New project: Reintegration and migration background

The disadvantages of Dutch people with a non-western migration background on the labour market is an important theme when it comes to the integration of this group. In many areas there has been progress in the position of people with a migration background. For example, their performance in education is comparable to that of people without a migration background. However, when it comes to their position on the labour market, Dutch people with a non-Western migration background are still lagging behind.

The Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment has launched the "Further Integration on the Labour Market" (VIA) programme with the aim of tackling this problem. There is already a lot of knowledge about the nature and size of the differences between Dutch people with and without a migration background and about possible explanations for these differences. However, knowledge about factors effectively improving the employment rate and labour market position of people with a migration background is still limited.

It is important to gain insight into whether reintegration measures are effective for groups with a non-western migration background and which elements contribute to this effectiveness. After all, what is effective for an average benefit recipient need not be equally effective for a specific subgroup of benefit recipients.

SEOR is investigating the influence of a migration background on the net effectiveness of intensive reintegration services  for people receiving unemployment benefits compared to basic services. In 2015, an experimental study was conducted into the effects of intensive services compared to basic services. The data from this study is used to find out whether there are differences between unemployment benefit recipients with and without a migration background.