Employees can be financially supported when transitioning to a structurally scarce job. This applies to working in the so-called green jobs areas, for example, to implement health, education, technology, ICT and climate protection measures. “If compensation is successful, we really have something,” says Van Gennip, Minister for Social Affairs and Employment.
The cabinet has today agreed on more plans to better address the shortage of supposedly scarce jobs, for example in the climate sector.
Tens of thousands of job offers
Officials have warned for years that Dutch plans to combat global warming will not succeed unless large investments are made in green personnel. For example, people are needed to install solar panels, build wind turbines, or install heat pumps and charging stations for electric cars. IT staff are also needed.
Last year there were about 86,000 vacancies in engineering and about 40,000 in ICT. By 2026, this shortage will have reached 210,900 vacancies in technology and 58,300 vacancies in ICT.
Efforts have been made for some time to attract more Dutch people to work in these sectors. For example, technical education is being promoted in schools, employers seeking employment are increasing their wages and offering permanent contracts faster. Efforts are also being made to encourage staff to work more days.
no income
A major hurdle is that those with incomes face significant financial headwinds when making such a switch. Current job is usually terminated to complete a prescribed course. “Then someone sometimes goes six months or a year without income and we want to do something about it,” says Minister Van Gennip.
What exactly this compensation will look like and what it will cost should be revealed in the coming period.
Van Gennip underlines that the gap in the labor market is a big problem. “It won’t be resolved tomorrow,” he says. A plan is currently being prepared for each sector, so the cabinet today adopted the separate Green Jobs and Digital Jobs action plan to find enough specialist staff to implement climate protection measures.
Abroad
The action plan also highlights the need for young people to be more enthusiastic about a job in the fields of education, technology and information and communication technologies. There is also hope of bridging the teacher shortage with so-called hybrid teachers, that is, teachers who practice a technical profession alongside their teaching activities.
The Cabinet also wants to work more on rapid training of young people or partially qualified career changers. Then you don’t have to complete the whole course for someone to get started. The cabinet is not against the use of status holders in technology, as the industry association has called for recently. A detailed plan for this is still missing from the letter.
Source: NOS
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
