Non-western foreigners more likely to have subsidised work

At the end of 2002 178 thousand people in the Netherlands were employed under one of the schemes for subsidised employment. Of these 97 thousand had a WSW job, ID job, 53 thousand an and 28 thousand a WIW job. Just over one in six subsidised job places were taken by someone with a non-western foreign background. Most of these foreigners are employed under the ID and WIW job schemes, fewer have a WSW job.

Many non-westerners employed under ID and WIW

At the end of 2002, 31 thousand non-western foreigners in the Netherlands had a job under one of the subsidised-employment schemes. They occupied about one third of all ID and WIW jobs. Relatively more non-western foreigners have an ID or a WIW job than native Dutch workers; non-western foreigners accounted for 8 percent of the overall Dutch labour force in 2002.

ID and WIW jobs are intended for the long-term unemployed, for people claiming a benefit and for unemployed youngsters. One of the reasons that relatively more non-western foreigners have jobs under these schemes is that relatively more of them fall into these categories than the native Dutch population.

Percentage of labour force with subsidised employment, December 2002

Surinamese and Antilleans most likely to have subsidised work

Just over 5 percent of the non-western foreign labour force had a subsidised job in 2002. This is more than twice the percentage of the native labour force. People from the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba and Suriname in particular had a job under a subsidised-job scheme: more than 6 percent of this group had a job under one of the schemes.

Fewer people move from ID to regular employment

In 2002 just over 4 thousand people left their ID jobs. Thirty-eight percent of them went on to regular employment. Native people were more successful in this respect than non-western foreigners. Only second generation non-western foreigners came near the percentage for the native labour force, but they account for only a small proportion of the outflow.

Outflow from ID jobs by origin, 2002

Flow from WIW to regular employment

More than 13 thousand people left their WIW jobs in 2002. Fifteen percent went one to regular employment, 40 percent went on a another subsidised position.

Outflow from WIW jobs by origin, 2002

The percentage of people moving from WIW to regular employment is about the same level for non-western foreigners as for the native Dutch population. However, non-westerners are more likely to leave these jobs because they are dismissed or because their contract ends. Native workers are more likely to move on to another subsidised job.

Robert Selten

Source: Allochtonen in Nederland 2003 (Dutch only)