Minister wants four-day work week to be norm for refugees

Minister Thierry Aartsen (Work and Participation) wants four days of work a week to become the norm for refugees going through inburgering, the integration programme. On Monday he signed an agreement with employers' organisations MKB-Nederland, VNO-NCW and AWVN to get more newcomers into jobs faster.

Why it matters

• Aartsen wants integration lessons held outside working hours as much as possible.
• Integration students who work at least 28 hours a week and do not rely on social assistance (bijstand) get more time to pass the exam if needed.
• The cabinet aims for 75,000 more newcomers in work within four years.

One fifth of all people receiving bijstand is a refugee or former refugee with a residence permit. Aartsen says lessons during the day often clash with employers' wish to use refugees full time.

Newcomers are now stuck in a system that is not aimed at work. First in an asylum centre and then on benefits. I want to change that. These are people with talents who want to get to work. They can contribute. We need everyone in our labour market. Work must become the norm for newcomers.Minister Thierry Aartsen

Aartsen and Asylum and Migration Minister Van den Brink launched an approach called Werk en Meedoen Nieuwkomers (Work and Participation for Newcomers). Aartsen wants to talk to language course providers and municipalities about adapting courses so people can work four days and still learn Dutch. He also wants more language learning in the workplace.

Asylum seekers whose applications have a good chance of success are to start an intensive language course right after arrival, with attention to Dutch society and the labour market. Several asylum centres (azc's) will begin this in the coming year, and an online self-study module, "Meedoen in Nederland", becomes available.

Some municipalities get extra money next year as a pilot, for example to place a job hunter at an asylum centre. More municipalities will guide refugees to a starter job, preferably in sectors with staff shortages. A pilot to help more female refugees into work is being expanded.

In the declaration Aartsen signed on Monday, the cabinet and employers promise to do everything to place newcomers faster. They will work out the agreements in deals per sector in the coming period.