Some mass layoffs could ge good for the Dutch economy, labor market, experts say
Reorganizations and layoffs have often made headlines in recent weeks, including trade union CNV warning that thousands of redundancies are looming. But that is not necessarily a bad thing, experts told RTL Z.
Layoffs are naturally unpleasant for the affected employees, but not necessarily bad for the economy. This is because they free up employees for companies that are doing well and looking for staff, labor market experts Ton Wilthagen of Tilburg University and Leontine Treur of Rabobank told the broadcaster.
The demand for labor will remain high in the coming decades. The main challenge is to find new jobs for people who lose their jobs. The problem the Netherlands faces is not mass unemployment, but a matching problem, Wilthagen said. It must become easier for people to switch careers.
“Short-term unemployment is often not a major problem, but long-term unemployment is,” Treur said. Wilthagen wants unions to stop painting doomsday scenarios and “take their role” in guiding workers to the next job, for example, by referring them to Regional Job Centers across the country.
This collaboration between government agencies, the benefits agency UWV, municipalities, businesses, unions, and educational organizations focuses on retraining or additional training to get laid-off workers back on the labor market. According to CNV, 23,000 people have been helped into new jobs this way.
According to Wilthagen, businesses must start considering people’s qualities instead of diplomas. “Someone trained as a nail technician, for example, can work very precisely with their hands. That can be useful in many other areas. Sometimes someone can be valuable elsewhere with a short training program,” he said .”We must, at the very least, get rid of the hierarchical distinction between highly educated and less educated people.”
Treur wholeheartedly agrees with that, adding that in some cases, vocational students earn a better living than those with higher professional or university degrees. “Prospective students aren’t always aware of this.
A lot can be achieved by just changing perspectives here and there, the experts said. “Lowering some requirements, for example,” Treur said. Speaking Dutch isn’t necessary for every position, she mentioned as an example.
