Labor market easier for immigrants with stronger Dutch language skills

Immigrants with stronger Dutch language skills have an easier time in the labor market in the Netherlands, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported. The stronger your Dutch language skills, the better the chance of having paid work. The only exception is with expats, where many are employed despite weak Dutch language skills.

CBS worked with data from the 2021 Labor Force Survey, in which immigrants between the ages of 15 and 75 were asked to estimate their knowledge of the Dutch language. The statistics office found a clear connection between language skills and employment positions.

Of the immigrants who spoke little to no Dutch, about half had paid work. Among those who said they spoke Dutch very well, 69 percent had paid work. “That is even slightly higher than among migrants for whom Dutch is the mother tongue, but that is because the latter are relatively old,” CBS said.

The differences in employment between immigrants with varying proficiency in Dutch are partly linked to their level of education and the age at which they moved to the Netherlands. “A higher level of education and migration at a young age are associated with better command of the Dutch language and higher labor participation,” CBS said.

But there is a notable exception - expats or knowledge migrants, people recruited from abroad to work in the Netherlands. “For them, Eglish is often the main language in their often more international working environment,” CBS said.

Over half of the immigrants who speak little or no Dutch work at the highest professional level. “That is a clearly larger share than among migrants with more knowledge of Dutch. On average, 35 percent of all workers in the Netherlands have a profession at the highest level.” Immigrants with reasonable to good Dutch language skills generally have a somewhat lower professional level.