Vocational graduates with non-EU backgrounds struggle more to find work

Graduates from Dutch vocational education programs (MBO) with a background from outside Europe have more difficulty finding a job after graduation, Statistics Netherlands has reported. They also need to submit more applications before landing an internship or work-based learning opportunity.

The statistics agency looked at MBO students who graduated in the year 2021-22. Among students born outside Europe, 82 percent were employed within a year, while 85 percent of those with one or both parents born outside Europe had jobs. By comparison, 92 percent of all graduates from MBO were employed within a year.

MBO graduates whose parents were both born in the Netherlands were the most likely to have a job one year after graduating, with 94 percent employed.

A total of 83 percent of MBO graduates with a non-European background had to apply for an internship or work-based learning position. Statistics Netherlands looked at the year 2024 for these figures. On average, 75 percent of all MBO graduates had to apply for such a mandatory placement that year.

Graduates of Dutch vocational education programs with a non-European background also faced more repeated applications for internships or work-based learning placements compared to other MBO students. In 2024, nearly 14 percent of students with one or both parents born outside Europe said they had to apply seven times or more.

Among graduates born outside Europe themselves, around 12 percent had to apply this many times, while those born in another European country (not the Netherlands) experienced it slightly more often, at just over 12 percent. The overall average was 8 percent.