Some 1.6 million students are set to graduate between 2025 and 2030. How easy will it be for them to find work? The Maastricht Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) has mapped their prospects.
Moving forward, ROA expects economic growth in the Netherlands to decline compared to previous years, which will be reflected in weaker job growth. Unemployment is projected to rise slightly, especially among young people. In relative terms, however, things could be much worse: the Netherlands still boasts the third-lowest unemployment rate in Europe among 18- to 25-year-olds, behind only Switzerland and Germany.
While job growth will be driven partly by retirements, new positions will emerge as well. This means that graduates have a reasonable chance of finding employment, depending on their field of study.
Major labour shortages
Engineering students and those training to be teachers will likely find work soon after graduation, and the same is true for graduates in the healthcare field. These sectors will continue to face major labour shortages in the near future.
“This means we need to look for structural ways to motivate more young people in the Netherlands to pursue degrees in engineering, education and healthcare”, says Jessie Bakens, research director at ROA. Earlier this month, enrolment figures showed that engineering and IT programmes at universities of applied sciences were struggling to attract students.
Graduates with economics or social studies degrees face weaker prospects in the job market. They are more likely to find work that is not related to their area of expertise, and to earn a lower salary.
The report distinguishes between senior secondary vocational (MBO) graduates, those with Bachelor’s degrees (HBO and WO) and those with Master’s degrees (also HBO and WO). ROA expects that graduates with only a Bachelor’s degree will be less likely to find work than those with an MBO4 or Master’s degree.
Artificial intelligence
The report also highlights the emergence of AI, which presents “new opportunities to automate certain work tasks”. According to ROA, AI’s impact on the current labour market has so far been limited, but “the potential is great”. The exact consequences, however, remain difficult to predict.