SER Report: Netherlands Underusing Refugee, Ukrainian Talent

A new report from one of the Netherlands’ most influential policy advisers has a blunt message for the government: the country is sitting on a pool of untapped talent, and it’s costing everyone.

The Social and Economic Council (SER) — the body that brings together employers, trade unions and independent experts to advise the Dutch cabinet — published an advisory report today arguing that refugees, asylum seekers and displaced Ukrainians are not being given enough opportunity to put their skills to work, particularly in sectors where staff shortages have become chronic.

A slow road into the workforce

The numbers help explain the SER’s concern. Eight years after receiving a residence permit, only 57 percent of status holders in the Netherlands are in paid employment — a figure the council considers far too low given how tight the Dutch labor market has been. Ukrainian refugees tend to find work faster, since they are not required to complete the standard civic integration process that other newcomers face. But that speed comes with a catch: many end up working below their level of education, and a large share are employed through temporary staffing agencies rather than in roles that match their training.

Part of the problem, according to the SER, is structural rather than personal. The council notes that a great deal of valuable time and motivation gets lost while asylum applications are processed, and that paid work is often difficult to combine with learning Dutch and meeting civic integration requirements — two things newcomers are simultaneously expected to do.

“Newcomers bring knowledge, experience and ambition with them,” said SER chair Kim Putters, adding that recognizing this from the outset would let people build on their skills while giving employers access to talent they currently aren’t using.

What the council wants to change

The SER’s recommendations are aimed squarely at making labor-market participation a central goal of newcomer policy rather than an afterthought. Among its proposals: give municipalities a legal responsibility — backed by structural funding — to help asylum seekers and displaced Ukrainians find work, and get government, municipalities and employers collaborating directly with understaffed sectors to build preparatory and work-study programs that let newcomers gain experience and move into more advanced roles over time.

A government already moving in this direction

The timing isn’t coincidental. The report was commissioned at the request of the previous minister for employment, and current minister Thierry Aartsen welcomed it as confirmation that his ministry’s approach is on the right track. Before the summer, Aartsen had already unveiled a plan to get an additional 75,000 newcomers into work by the end of 2030, including letting asylum seekers with strong prospects of receiving a residence permit start learning Dutch and working while still at reception centers, and making it easier to combine work with civic integration.

“Newcomers do not benefit from being left on the sidelines for long,” Aartsen said, pointing to the tight labor market as a reason the country can’t afford to leave that talent unused.

The broader economic backdrop supports his urgency. With unemployment sitting near historic lows and nearly every sector reporting staff shortages, banks and economists have already flagged newcomers as an underused source of labor. One 2025 industry analysis found the number of refugees and status holders in employment climbing by roughly 17,500 in a single year, with employers increasingly willing to give newcomers a chance simply because the alternative — unfilled vacancies — is worse for business.

Why it matters beyond this week

This isn’t a one-off announcement; it’s the latest step in a policy shift that’s been building since early summer and is set to keep unfolding through 2026 as ministries, municipalities and employer groups work out how to implement it. Expect follow-up coverage as concrete funding decisions, pilot programs, and sector-specific agreements start to take shape in the coming months — which is exactly why this story is worth bookmarking rather than skimming once.

Sources