Employers prefer native Dutch workers ‘to avoid problems’
Employers are more likely to choose an ethnic Dutch worker over someone with a minority background because they believe they are the safest choice and less likely to cause problems, the government’s socio-cultural planning office SCP says in a new report.
By giving a job to a native Dutch person, ‘they think they are less likely to be confronted with unexpected problems such as language difficulties and long holidays,’ the SCP says in its latest Discrimination Monitor, published on Tuesday.
In addition, employers sometimes exclude ethnic minority staff because they could dominate the workforce or cause divisions between other groups, the report says.
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Earlier research has shown non-western immigrants in the Netherlands are more likely to be unemployed than the native Dutch and are less likely to have a permanent job, even if they have the same education, qualifications and experience.
Something not mentioned in the report above but that I see day after day: the requirement that candidates speak Dutch “without an accent”, meaning, Dutch that doesn’t sound foreign. A candidate might speak the language flawlessly, but if they have an accent that clearly identifies them as non Dutch, employers won’t give them a job, even if the position does not involve phone support or a customer facing function.
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