ESF Ex-post Evaluation Synthesis Contract VC/2015/0098

Transcription

1 ESF Ex-post Evaluation Synthesis Contract VC/2015/0098 Country synthesis report The Netherlands Written by Metis GmbH, Fondazione Brodolini and Panteia July 2016 Social Europe

2 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Directorate G Audit and evaluation Unit EMPL. G4 - Evaluation & Impact Assessment Contact: Jiri Polasek jiri.polasek@ec.europa.eu European Commission B-1049 Brussels

3 EUROPEAN COMMISSION ESF Ex-post Evaluation Synthesis Contract VC/2015/0098 Country synthesis report The Netherlands 2016 Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion European Social Fund

4 Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union. Freephone number (*): (*) The information given is free, as are most calls (though some operators, phone boxes or hotels may charge you). LEGAL NOTICE This document has been prepared for the European Commission however it reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. More information on the European Union is available on the Internet ( Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2015 European Union, 2015 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. ISBN [number] doi:[number] Please quote this report as: ICF (2015) Ex-post evaluation of ESF investment into human capital, for the European Commission, Directorate-General Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. The opinions expressed are those of the Contractor only and do not represent the Commission s official position.

5 Glossary of key concepts A2E Access and sustainable integration into employment one of the Priorities of Article 3 Scope of assistance of the ESF Regulation No 1081/2006 and the focus of this evaluation Action Adaptability Annex XXIII categories Category of expenditure (CoE) Certified expenditure Cluster Community added value (CAV) Convergence objective Effectiveness Efficiency Gender sensitivity ISCED The second level in the OP architecture, usually the Priority Axis (see below) consists of several actions A key policy area in the ESF, consisting of activities to increase the adaptation of workers and enterprises to the changing economic circumstances and labour market demands - one of the Priorities of Article 3 Scope of assistance of the ESF Regulation No 1081/2006 and the focus of this evaluation The socio-economic characteristics of ESF participants reported in the ESF monitoring systems, relating to the participant gender, labour market status (employed (of which self-employed), unemployed (of which long-term unemployed), inactive of which in education and training), age (young people aged and older people aged 55-64), disadvantaged status (migrants, minorities, disabled, other disadvantaged) and educational attainment status (by ISCED levels) Categorisation of the Structural Fund expenditure; cf ANNEX IV of COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1083/2006 of 11 July ESF expenditure relates to Categories 62 to 74. Expenditure incurred in the implementation of the ESF activities which has been approved by the Managing Authority of the Operational Programme and the European Commission A group of actions or interventions with common objectives and activities (the evaluation identified 9 clusters of ESF A2E activities) The extent to which the ESF activities provided effects additional to the national / regional activities NUTS level 2 regions in the EU Member States whose gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was less than 75 % of the average GDP of the EU-25 for the same reference period The extent to which the set aims and objectives have been reached The comparison between the achieved outputs and results and the costs incurred The extent to which the planning, design, implementation and monitoring reflects the gender issues International Standard Classification of Education, an international standard classification used to classify the education levels: 1 Primary education 2 Lower secondary education 5

6 Intermediate Body (IB) Intervention Human capital Managing Authority (MA) Multi-Objective OP Operational Programme (OP) Output Participant Priority Axis (PA) Project promoter Regional competitiveness and employment objective (RCE) Result Sustainability 3 Upper secondary education 4 Post-secondary non-tertiary education 5 Short-cycle tertiary education 6 Bachelor or equivalent Any public or private body or service which acts under the responsibility of a managing or which carries out duties on behalf of such an authority vis-à-vis beneficiaries implementing operations The third level in the OP architecture, usually the Actions in the OP consist of several interventions A key policy area in the ESF, consisting of activities to develop the skills and knowledge of human resources across the different stages of the education and training system cycle, this theme is subject to another thematic evaluation - one of the Priorities of Article 3 Scope of assistance of the ESF Regulation No 1081/2006 and the focus of this evaluation A national, regional or local public authority or a public or private body designated by the Member State to manage the operational programme An OP in which both RCE and Convergence regions participate The means through which the ESF support was implemented in the Member States, as agreed between the European Commission and the Member States. Each OP consists of several Priority Axes, which in turn consist of several actions, which in turn consist of several interventions The immediate reach of the ESF activity (e.g. number of participants reached, number of schools or enterprises supported) The person who participated in the ESF funded activity. The first level in the OP architecture, usually the OP consists of several Priority Axes (concepts of priorities, areas and others are also used in the OPs), which in turn consist of several actions and each action of several interventions The organisation in charge of implementing specific ESF funded projects NUTS level 2 regions in the EU Member States whose gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was above 90 % of the average GDP of the EU-25 for the same reference period The change achieved through the activity upon leaving to long term achievements of ESF activities (e.g. number of qualifications acquired by participants, number of enterprises providing training) The extent to which the achieved results last 6

7 Table of Contents Glossary of key concepts... 5 Acronyms... 9 Executive summary...10 Introduction Background and Context Challenges and role/position of ESF Challenges faced by the country in the different policy fields at the time of programming and during the programming period CSR addressed by the ESF ESF response to the crisis Support and Contribution to the Lisbon Strategy and Europe 2020 strategy and targets Scale of ESF investment Effectiveness by Priority Outputs and results Outputs Results Evidence of effectiveness Efficiency by theme Sustainability Gender sensitivity Community added value Volume effects Scope effects Role effects Process effects Socio-economic impact Key lessons learned What are the key lessons in terms of policy choices? What are the key lessons in terms of target groups? What are the key lessons in terms of the appropriate programming? What are the key lessons in terms of the effective implementation? What are the key lessons in terms of monitoring? What are the key lessons in terms of evaluation? ANNEXES

8 List of Figures and Tables Figure 1. Employment status of participants in ESF (entering)...20 Figure 2. Education status of participants in ESF (entering)...21 Figure 3. Vulnerable target groups participating in ESF (entering)...21 Figure 4. Participants by policy field...22 Table 1. ESF Ex post evaluation, main figures by policy theme...13 Table 2. Financial allocation and implementation rate of the ESF programming period Table 3. Cost per participant by theme (in EUR)...31 Table 4. Share of women by policy field...33 Table 5. Socio-economic indicators trends...37 Table 6. Data on participants...42 Table 7. Output indicators by policy field...43 Table 8. Overview of Country Specific Recommendations addressed to the Netherlands...44 Table 9. Result indicators by policy field...47 Table 10. Inventory of evaluations

9 Acronyms A2E AIR ALMP CAV CIE CoE CF CSR EAFRD EC EEN EES EFF ESF ERDF EU HC HEI IB LFS LMP MA MS NGO NSRF OP PA PES SFC SI UWV Access to employment and sustainable integration into employment Annual Implementation Report Active labour market policy Community Added Value Counterfactual Impact Evaluation Category of expenditure Cohesion Fund Country Specific Recommendation European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development European Commission Expert Evaluation Network European Employment Strategy European Fisheries Fund European Social Fund European Regional Development Fund European Union Human Capital Higher Education Institutes Intermediate Body Labour force survey Labour market policy Managing Authority Member State Non-governmental organisation National Strategic Reference Framework Operational Programme Priority Axis Public Employment Service Structural Funds Common Database Social Inclusion Delivery Organisation for Employee Benefits 9

10 Executive summary Headline figures and key findings at the end of 2014 Total financial allocation: EUR 1,96 billion (contribution of EU was 42.3%) Activities were implemented under one Operational programme (OP ESF); 82% or EUR 1.61 billion of which was incurred by the end of 2014; 43% of the total ESF investment was attributed to the Adaptability/Human Capital theme. Access to Employment is the second largest, with 28%. 1,550,025 participations were registered by the end of ESF also supported 4,437 social innovation projects. Of the participants 70% were employed, 49% with primary or lower secondary education and 43% with upper secondary education, 38% youths and 17% migrants. Of the 916,288 participants who finalized an intervention, 127,520 persons were employed who formerly didn t have a job and 721,468 persons earned some kind of (sub)qualification. Aggregation of results: - persons that gained employment: 127,520 - persons achieving a (partly) qualification at level 1 of vocational training: 51,249 - persons having achieved a (partly) qualification at level 2-4 of vocational training: 208,008 - persons having achieved another type of recognized qualification: 462,211 - projects in the field of social innovation: 3,641 Background The sustainability of the jobs differs per Priority. Especially young participants in Action J (youth) very often find a sustainable job (56%). The CAV of ESF can mostly be found in volume (Actions A,J and D) and scope effects (Actions B and C). The Dutch ESF programme has shown to be very flexible. The way monitoring has been organized with Statistics Netherlands can be seen as an example for other Member States. The country synthesis report covers the programming period up until the end of 2014 with one year of implementation remaining. It includes the analysis of expenditure, outputs and results in the Netherlands across all policy themes. It builds on the Human Capital, Social Inclusion and Access to Employment ex post evaluations, Annual Implementation Reports and on other available ESF evaluations carried out in the Netherlands. 1 Policy challenges addressed by the ESF At the beginning of the programming period the Netherlands reported increasing employment figures (from 73.2% in 2005 to 77.2% of working population in 2008). In the following years, with the emergence of the financial and economic crisis, employment figures dropped (to 74.3% in 2013). A similar pattern emerges for unemployment. From 2004 (4.8%) till 2008 (2.7%) the unemployment figures decreased over the years, while post 2008 the figures drastically increased to 6.7% in 2013 (although figures are still far below EU average). Having a closer look at the employment and unemployment rates of specific target groups one can see that employment even then was still low for older workers, young people, women and low skilled. To determine where the use of ESF resources can be most effective, the Dutch Government aligned intervention areas to the Country Specific Recommendations from the Council to the Netherlands. The most significant weaknesses of the Dutch labour market that have been identified were a low average number of hours worked; many 10

11 early school-leavers without the so-called starting qualification; low participation in Life Long Learning among low-skilled, inactive and older employees; stagnation in the participation of women; high unemployment among ethnic minorities; a relatively large proportion of employees on disability benefits and low labour participation of older workers. The Dutch government also acknowledged the policy challenges in dealing with the ageing population, the knowledge economy and globalisation. 2. The scale of ESF investment 2.1. Funding There was one Operational Programme (OP) for the ESF in the Netherlands for the programming period; it focuses on employability, the adaptability of workers and social inclusion of vulnerable groups (especially detainees and students in special education). Overall, the financial volume of the OP during this programming period was 1,959,832,603 EUR, of which 43% was allocated to the policy field of Increasing adaptability Participations To sum up the overall implementation of the ESF, all of the Actions reached far more participants than originally intended. A total number of 1,550,025 participations were achieved by Actions subsidized by the ESF (target: 255,420). Regarding Action E, which is about social innovation and sustainable employability in companies, it can be concluded that with 4,437 projects, 4,157 more projects were started than the 280 originally intended. This is, however, mainly due to the different shape of projects. 3. The effectiveness of interventions / What works for whom? Up until 2014, a total number of 916,288 participants completed a single project 1. The cumulative target regarding this result is 255,700, and thus 358.3% is met. It is expected that the total number of completed projects will further increase, because many final declarations still need to be submitted and many individuals still need to complete their ongoing programmes. With regard to the employment results there was only one target available, and it was regarding Action A (Access of Employment- adults). Within this action 40,581 participants found a (sustainable) job. The target of 8% job success was met with 387.5% (because 31% of those participants has found a job). Within Action J (Access to Employment youth), B and C (both Social Inclusion former detainees and youth from special education) 2 only the absolute numbers of participants that accepted work are available. Accumulated (Actions A+J+B+C), this amounts to 127,520 employed people. 722,748 participants earned a (sub-) qualification within Actions B and D. Within Action J and C 43,413 participants entered some sort of education, training or internship upon leaving. There were no targets provided for these specific numbers. Finally, regarding Action E it must be said that the target of 4,046 social innovation projects is almost met. That is to say, a total number of 3,672 implementation plans on social innovation have been submitted in the Netherlands till the end of The interim evaluation of this particular Action showed that the vast majority of these plans will eventually be executed. 3 Aggregation of results 127,520 persons gained employment 51,549 persons achieving a (partly) qualification at level 1 of vocational training 1 Within Action J, there was no target available on completed procedures. As mentioned above, Action E is excluded, because it is not about participants. 2 Within Action D, only sustainable employment was taken into account. 3 Bureau Bartels (2011) Evaluation Action E Social Innovation of the ESF programme , page

12 208,008 persons having achieved a (partly) qualification at level 2-4 of vocational training persons having achieved another type of recognized qualification: 462,211 3,641 projects in the field of social innovation. 4. The efficiency of interventions Although no evaluation on Dutch ESF has paid attention to cost-effectiveness, there is some information about the efficiency of the Dutch ESF interventions available from the thematic evaluation on Social Inclusion in the framework of this ex post evaluation and a report on the standard unit costs for the programming period. In combination with the calculation of the cost per output on the basis of the most recent information on outputs and costs of the OP interventions, the following picture seems to arise: In general, the much higher amount of participants than originally targeted under the several interventions seems to indicate a high efficiency of interventions. The interventions under the Adaptability and Access to Employment themes especially seem to be cost-effective (the costs of the A2E interventions are e.g. a little bit lower than in similar otherwise funded interventions), The interventions under the social inclusion theme seem to be less cost-effective, especially from the perspective of results. 5. The sustainability With regard to sustainable employment, no targets were provided for any of the ESF Actions. The sustainability in terms of participants has, however, been studied by Statistics Netherlands. From the participants in the several actions, 24% (Action A), 56% (Action J), 9% (Action B) and 27% (Action C) had a job 12 months after the trajectory. The new programme more or less continues most of the Actions. Only Action D (training of workers) is no longer funded. These have been (co-) funded from National Government by the so-called sector plans. 6. The gender sensitivity of interventions ESF in the Netherlands has had no specific gender-related activities. The participation of women was somewhat low, mostly in the field of Increasing Adaptability. The reason for this was that most interventions in this field comprised training of workers in sectors where women are underrepresented. 7. Community added value of ESF investment The CAV of the theme of Access to Employment is with the volume of interventions. It is possible to re-integrate many more (young) unemployed and to train many more workers because of the ESF. ESF also has structured the organization of re-integration better and improved the content of trajectories. Actions B and C under the theme of Social Inclusion make it possible to support target groups (detainees and students in special education) which otherwise wouldn t be supported. 8. Socio-economic impact Next to the volume effects already described, the OP may have had a specific socioeconomic impact in the fields of combating youth unemployment (many young unemployed have found a sustainable job) and in that of increasing security because there was less recidivism among former detainees. 9. Overall assessment of all evaluation criteria ESF in the Netherlands during the programming has in many cases (by far) exceeded its targets. There were far more participants than expected and, in those cases where the interventions were directed at unemployed persons, a bigger share of them found a (sustainable) job. Also many persons were qualified and the targeted amount of implementation plans for social innovation will be reached. The main community added 12

13 value can be found in a bigger volume of unemployed reached by interventions and target groups reached, who weren t the objective of labour market policies before. Interventions in the field of Adaptability and Access to Employment especially have been cost-effective. The main backdrop has been that participation of women was rather low. 10. Key lessons ESF in the Netherlands has been directed at the right target groups. After the crisis it showed flexibility by re-directing itself at new target groups like young persons and funding shorter trajectories and trainings. Another lesson learned from the way ESF has been organized in the Netherlands is to draw from the way Statistics Netherlands is monitoring the outputs and results of the ESF by linking the ESF administration with statistical databases. Table 1. ESF Ex post evaluation, main figures by policy theme Increasing Adaptability and enhancing Human Capital Access to Employment Social Inclusion Technical Assistance Allocated in milions EUR (EU + national funding) Total 1,960 4 Of it EU (%) 42.3% Certified expenditure in million EUR (and % of allocation) 709 (84.6%) 333 (60.7%) 472 (93.2%) 96 (144.6%) 1, Participations (thousands) , Women % Youth (16-24)% Unemployed % Inactive % Disadvantaged % Results Low skilled (ISCED 1-2)% persons gaining employment (thousands) persons achieving a (partly) qualification at level 1 of vocational training (thousands) persons having achieved a (partly) qualification at level 2-4 of vocational training (thousands) Persons having achieved another type of recognized This figure comes from In March 2016 new figures on the ESF budgets for the several MS were published. The newly published figure of total ESF funding for the Netherlands is 1,933,953,

14 Increasing Adaptability and enhancing Human Capital Access to Employment Social Inclusion Technical Assistance Total qualification projects in the field of social innovation (thousands) Introduction This country synthesis report of the Netherlands is for Evaluation Task 2B: National level analysis of the ESF Ex post Evaluation Synthesis. The purpose of the present report is to summarise the most recent and most robust evaluation evidence available, analyse the most recent data available and provide a succinct overview of the outputs, results and impacts of the ESF under the main ESF Priorities as defined in the ESF Regulation 5. These are: increasing adaptability of workers, enterprises and entrepreneurs with a view to improving the anticipation and positive management of economic change enhancing access to employment and the sustainable inclusion in the labour market of job seekers and inactive people, preventing unemployment, in particular long-term and youth unemployment, encouraging active ageing and longer working lives, and increasing participation in the labour market reinforcing the social inclusion of disadvantaged people with a view to their sustainable integration in employment and combating all forms of discrimination in the labour market enhancing human capital promoting partnerships, pacts and initiatives through networking of relevant stakeholders, such as the social partners and non-governmental organisations, at the transnational, national, regional and local levels in order to mobilise for reforms in the field of employment and labour market inclusiveness And in Convergence regions: expanding and improving investment in human capital strengthening institutional capacity and the efficiency of public administrations and public services at national, regional and local level and, where relevant, of the social partners and non-governmental organisations, with a view to reforms, better regulation and good governance especially in the economic, employment, education, social, environmental and judicial fields The ESF achievements under each Priority have been evaluated in the following sections: Extent to which resources were used, Effectiveness, Efficiency/cost-effectiveness, Socioeconomic impact, CAV, Gender sensitivity and Sustainability. For the country synthesis report, existing reports have been used issuing from EU level evaluations, in particular the recent thematic ex-post evaluations on Human Capital, Social Inclusion and Access to Employment and the reports of the ESF EEN expert evaluation network as well as national evaluation material and other relevant reports. The information has been updated by the AIRs 2014, the Excel sheet from the Managing Authority Deelnemerskenmerken cumulatief tm 2014 (Characteristics of Participants till 2014) and the letter on the ESF the Dutch government sent to Parliament in September This letter and the Excel sheet comprise the best quality information on the outputs and results of the ESF making use of recent studies of Statistics Netherlands. 5 REGULATION (EC) No 1081/2006 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 5 July 2006 Article 3, Scope of assistance 14

15 Given the reliance of the country synthesis reports on existing material for the most part, some chapters have more detailed information than others. This is the case for the chapters on Increasing adaptability, Access to Employment and Social Inclusion. 15

16 1 Background and Context 1.1 Challenges and role/position of ESF Challenges faced by the country in the different policy fields at the time of programming and during the programming period At the beginning of this programming period the Netherlands reported increasing employment figures (from 73.2% in 2005 to 77.2% in 2008 of working population). In the following years, with the emergence of the financial and economic crisis, employment figures dropped to 74.3% in A similar pattern can be seen for unemployment. From 2004 (4.8%) till 2008 (2.7%) the unemployment figures decreased, while post 2008, the figures increased to 6.7% (although these figures are still far below EU average). Having a closer look at the employment and unemployment rates of specific target groups it is shown that while the employment rates for older workers increased during this programming period (from 50.9% in 2007 to 60.1% in 2013), the employment rate for young people has been decreasing (from 68.4% in 2007 to 62.3% in 2013). Women are strongly more disadvantaged on the labour market than men, as their employment rate was 69.6% in 2007, compared to 82.2% for males. The risk of exclusion from the labour market has remained rather stable over the period. The percentage of long-term unemployed has been shifting from 1.4% in 2007 to 2.4% in The very long-term unemployment rate also increased from 0.9% in 2007 to 1.2% in The following three groups have been particularly affected in the Netherlands: Young people: the share of young people not in education or training increased from 3.5% in 2007 to 5.1% in Low-skilled individuals: the employment prospects of low-skilled individuals deteriorated over the period considered, moving from 5.3% in 2007 to 10.5% in At the same time, their inactivity rate decreased slightly. Individuals born in a foreign country: the unemployment rate of foreign born individuals increased from 6.7% in 2007 to 12.7% in 2013, while their inactivity rate improved over the period CSR addressed by the ESF The recommendations that the Council gave for the Netherlands mostly focused on specific target groups like women, immigrants, elderly people or other groups of disadvantaged people like disabled persons. Main challenges include the low level labour supply and participation of specific target groups. These groups include long-term unemployed and unemployed people for less than one year who face obstacles in finding a job. The Country Specific Recommendations (CSR) focused on improving labour supply for people at the margin of the labour market, facilitating the transition from part-time to full-time and further developing an integrated flexicurity approach. Many CSRs are devoted to women. In particular, CSRs , 2012 and 2013 regarded the so-called NUG-gers, females returning to work, who do not receive or are not entitled to benefits and income support. The CSR focus in 2011 was instead on second-income earners, who are in most cases females. The group of older workers is also mentioned in CSRs. In there was a specific focus on improving their labour supply, in the 2009, and 2012 CSRs on the need to enhance their labour participation, and in 2013 on the need to enhance their employability. The group of disabled has also been mentioned in the CSR 2006: 'Screen the work ability of people on disability benefits and assisting those who are able to work to find a suitable job', and in the 2012 CSR mentioned enhancing labour participation of people with disabilities. CSRs in other years more generally referred to 'vulnerable groups' or 'disadvantaged groups'. Looking at the CSRs for the Netherlands they reflect partly the ESF A2E policy priorities. One may note measures to increase youth employability were not mentioned in the CSR, 16

17 while these are an important policy priority. The reason for this is explained in the next section. Some other ESF investments also made a contribution to addressing some of the relevant country specific recommendations in the period. This was particularly the case with the parts of the CSRs regarding students with low educational attainment or learning difficulties, the reform of the education and training system, and in particular the increase the educational attainment of early school leavers ESF response to the crisis Due to the crisis, the ESF OP for the Netherlands underwent some changes. The most important one was that a new Action J was introduced which incorporated interventions in the field of Access to Employment for young persons. Already at the start of the crisis the Dutch government had foreseen that the youth unemployment rate and the percentage of NEETs would increase because of the crisis. Next to this, some new interventions in the field of sustainable employability were introduced, because the importance of preventing elderly workers from losing their jobs had increased due to the crisis. 1.2 Support and Contribution to the Lisbon Strategy and Europe 2020 strategy and targets The ESF programme of the Netherlands fed into the national goals of the Lisbon and Europe 2020 strategy. The main objectives of the ESF in the Netherlands during the programming period were: Increase the number of available labourers. ESF supported people who are on the fringes of the labour market, ensured that they participate in society and assisted them in finding a job. Education and training should have enlarged job opportunities for people over the age of 55 who are on social security benefits, non-recipients of social security benefits and incapacitated or partially incapacitated people. Improve participation of the underprivileged. Underprivileged citizens, such as detainees, persons subject to a hospital order and youngsters in a juvenile or youth custodial institution were supported by ESF to find permanent employment. This also applied to education for children with a mental or physical impairment who cannot attend standard education. By this way, the ESF was also used as a supplementary funding source in the reform of education and VET education schools specifically for students with learning difficulties. The reform aimed to achieve better integration rates of these students into the labour market by providing more targeted training programmes adapted to the needs of the labour market, and by providing coaching services helping students after the completion of a training programme to integrate in sustainable employment. Promote flexibility and invest in human capital. ESF offered youth more education and training opportunities so it will become easier for them to find jobs. ESF financially supported municipal authorities and training development funds that combat and prevent youth unemployment. Next to this, increasing employment participation rates and participation in LLL was one of the key priorities for the ESF investment in this field. ESF also financially supported employers who offer training to their staff members by means of training development, with an aim to improve their position on the labour market. By funding continuous vocational training, activities of employees ESF investments in the field of HC also provided additional funding to the activities of the national education system. In order to enhance labour productivity in the Netherlands, socially innovative projects were also supported. ESF financially supported employers who better organise work procedures and work conditions to work more efficiently. Additionally, the fund financially supported vital small and medium 17

18 sized enterprises that promote the sustainable deployment of their staff members. 6 6 For more information see: 18

19 2 Scale of ESF investment The Netherlands were allocated 830,002,737 of funding for the programming period (expenses regarding technical assistance included). Including national funding ( 728,844,717) and private funding ( 400,985,149) this meant a total budget 1,959,832,603 (2007), as illustrated in table 2. The policy field Increasing adaptability/human Capital received the highest funding, 43%. The Dutch OP is formed by three policy fields (priorities) and six themes (called actions), as showed in the following table. The measures related to Human Capital were integrated into the policy field Reinforcing Social Inclusion, as they mainly targeted vulnerable groups. Policy field Action Description Access to employment Social Inclusion Adaptability A J B C D E Additional equipping and mediation of unemployed at a distance from/with a disadvantage on the labour market. Additional schooling, training respectively equipping of youngsters until the age of 27 on the labour market. Re-integration of detainees, mentally ill patients in custodial institutions and youth in juvenile custodial institutions. Practical labour market training in secondary special education for disabled students. Projects focused on improving the labour market position of lowskilled workers or workers without a starting qualification (education up to and including MBO-4 or equivalent). Social innovation (focused on increasing labour productivity). According to the SFC 2007 data, about 82.6% of the allocated financial volume was spent by the end of However, a number of final declarations on projects that are just (or about to be) completed still need to be submitted. All Actions apart from Action A (Access to Employment- adults) will contribute to this increased realization. In all probability, the ESF programme of the Netherlands will continue to perform well in terms of the absorption of the funds. 7 The interventions in the framework of the theme of Reinforcing Social Inclusion (PA2) have the highest implementation rate (93.2%), while Action A, which is related to the policy field Access to Employment has the lowest implementation rate (60.7%). The cause for the low implementation rate is mainly administrative: communities are rather late with declaring their expenditure. A synthetic table is presented here. 8 Table 2. Financial allocation and implementation rate of the ESF programming period OP Policy field Financial Allocation Share of total funding of the OP Implementation rate (in %) - - Increasing adaptability and enhancing human capital Enhancing access and sustainable integration into employment 838,929, ,001, Reinforcing Social Inclusion 506,501, Total OP 1,959,832, Source: SFC Brief van de Staatssecretaris van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid aan de voorzitter van de Tweede Kamer,, September 28,2015, p These are 2015 figures. In March 2016 new figures on the ESF budgets for the Netherlands are showing a total budget of 1,933,953,656, There are no new figures available for the several themes of the ESF.. 19

20 3 Effectiveness by Priority 3.1 Outputs and results Outputs In total, there were approximately 1.55 million participations 9 in the interventions funded by the Dutch ESF OP during the programming period Overviewing the achievement of the programme in 2014 against target 10, one sees that all targets were clearly overachieved, almost all for more than 100%. The following figures provide an overview of the employment and educational status of all participants entering during this programming period. The vast majority (70%) of the participants were employed; of all participants just about 0.6% are self-employed. This is because the interventions comprised of many (short) trainings of workers. The second largest group are the inactive (22%), of which 16% are in education/training. Unemployed and long-term unemployed make up 8% of the participants (see figure 1 below). The large share of employed people can be explained by the fact that Action D, related to the training of workers, received the highest share of funding while at the same time the cost per participant was rather low. Figure 1. Employment status of participants in ESF (entering) 10.6% Employed 11.4% Self-employed 3.1% 5.1% 0.6% 69.9% Unemployed LTU Inactive in education/training Inactive (others) Source: own figure on the basis of Deelnemerskenmerken cumulatief tm 2014 (Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment) About almost half of the participants have only primary or lower secondary education (ISCED 1 and 2), as illustrated in figure 2. The share of people with upper secondary education (ISCED 3) made up 43% of the total number of participants; participants with tertiary education reached 5%. 11 There are no participants given in the category of postsecondary non-tertiary education (ISCED 4), because this education level does not exist in the Netherlands. 9 As one person could participate more than once, the term `participations` is used here. In the rest of the document, `participants` is used, but may include double counting of individuals. 10 Agentschap SZW (2007). Operational Programme, The Netherlands, ESF ; page The education level of participants in the Netherlands is being identified by the Central Bureau for Statistics. For about 3% of the participants it was not possible to identify the education level. 20

21 Figure 2. Education status of participants in ESF (entering) 4.7% 2.9% Primary or lower secondary education (ISCED 1 and 2) Upper secondary education (ISCED 3) 43.2% 49.2% Post-secondary non tertiary education (ISCED 4) Tertiary education (ISCED 5 and 6) Unknown Source: own figure on the basis of the AIR 2014 The Dutch OP specifically targeted young people, which make up 38% among the participants in ESF Minorities and Migrants (both 17%) are on range two and three. Furthermore older people and disabled were also targeted and make up 8% resp. 5% of the participants. The main other vulnerable groups are young persons in special education and (ex) offenders. Figure 3. Vulnerable target groups participating in ESF (entering) 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 38.4% Young persons (15-24 years) 7.8% Older persons (55-64 years) 16.5% 16.8% 12.6% 4.5% Migrants Minorities Disabled Others Source: own figure on the basis of AIR2014 Looking at the share of participants by policy field in Figure 4 below, we find that the majority of participants (62%) was supported under the policy field Increasing adaptability/human capital. The rest of participants are distributed between the policy field Access to employment (25%) and Social inclusion (13%). 21

22 Figure 4. Participants by policy field 13% Increasing Adaptability 25% Access to Employment 62% Reinforcing Social Inclusion Source: own figure on the basis of AIR2014 Looking at the outputs by policy field and action, with reference to Table 7 in the Annex, the following can be noted: Enhancing Access to Employment In total 383,978 persons are reached within the A2E related PA 1 (Action A+J) in the Netherlands. The main types of interventions involved are guidance of the unemployed, application and work rhythm trainings and subsidized jobs. It is interesting to see that interventions mostly targeted men and to a lesser extent women (41% share of women). The A2E interventions were mainly targeted on young people (57%), the inactive (35%), unemployed (30%), the employed (36%) and minorities and migrants (30% and 25%). To a lesser extend the self-employed were reached. With 9.3% a considerable share of disabled people is reached. The overachievement in Action A is mainly caused by the large number of participants since 2008 (in 2007 there were only 4,004 participants, whilst there were 40,562 in 2011). Implementation rates reach from 345% to 1,160%. Also the total number of participants attained by Action J seems very positive as by ,828 people were reached, compared to 20,000 per year (80,000 in total) estimated in the OP. In general, the cause of the overachievement is that the municipalities and the PES choose to apply short, inexpensive trajectories to the unemployed instead of the long and expensive pathways (including training programmes) originally intended. Reinforcing Social Inclusion Over the years until 2014 the total number of participants reached by the policy field Social Inclusion is 202,258. The main types of interventions were job guidance and trainings (for detainees) and (job) guidance in special education. Of the participants only 64,400 (32%) are female. The interventions reached a high share of inactive people (91%), of which 77% were in education/training (e.g. pupils, students). The share of young people, minorities and migrants is 77%, 28% and 11% respectively. The share of disabled people is 6.3% of all participants. 96% of the participants only have primary or lower secondary education (ISCED 1 and 2). The high share of inactive people in education or training is related to Action C, which targets students with a low intelligence level, including those with learning deficiencies in combination with physical handicaps. These students are not in a position to qualify for a secondary or continuing educational programme, and as such will usually not be able to 22

23 obtain a starting qualification; however, a simple, standard job in the labour market is within their ability. The large proportion of men in Action B may be explained by the fact that only 6% of Dutch custodial institutions capacity is intended for women. In respect to the capacity of the institutions we can therefore conclude that there is an overrepresentation of female participants in Action B. However, also 64% of participants in Action C are boys or men. As referred in Table 7, the number of participants attained by Action B + C is much higher than the objective laid down in the OP. The great success of Action C may be explained in a number of ways. First, the number of schools that chose to implement ESF projects was higher than originally expected. Second, the costs per participant were maximized. As a result, it was possible to reach a higher number of participants within funding limits. Finally, it can be stated that the objective regarding the number of participants was under-estimated in the OP. 12 Increasing Adaptability This policy field supported about 963,789 participations, which makes it the largest policy field of the ESF in terms of participants. The main type of intervention is (vocational) training of workers. In terms of target groups the PA covers mainly employed people (96% compared to 1% unemployed and 3% inactive people) of which more than 20% are between 15 and 24 years. The share of minorities, migrants and disabled peoples is 9.2%, 14.1% and 2.2% respectively. The share of women is the lowest across all policy fields and reaches less than 29%. This can be explained by the fact that a substantial part of the projects is implemented in male-dominated sectors, like construction or industry. 13 Referring to Table 7, it can be concluded that this policy field has been very successful. The number of workers attained by Action D till 2014 (963,789) exceeded the number targeted estimated in the OP (126,000) by far. This may be caused by the fact that the individual educational projects cost less than previously estimated. Also, the target number of participants has been estimated too low in the OP. The total number of projects on Social Innovation 14 amounts to 4,437 in 2014 The majority of these projects started in 2012, what can be explained by the budget increase of Action E Social Innovation/vital companies 15 just before the application period of 2011 and the fact that the maximum grant was limited to 18,000 per project. As a result many more projects could be processed than the 280 originally targeted project (which should have been shaped in a different way) Results For a large share of result and impact indicators there were no corresponding targets defined. Furthermore, achievement rates over 2013 are only available for the number of completed re-integration. Overall, 60% of the result indicators exceeded the targets set, ranging from 44% within SI up to 388% in A2E. Nevertheless, results are good for SI as the result indicators that did not reach the target set can be explained by the fact that there are good reasons that trajectories last longer than the maximum period in which their financing by the ESF is possible, e.g. that detainees had to stay in prison and that vulnerable students still had to go to school. 12 Agentschap SZW (2013) Annual Implementation Report 2012, page Ibid. 14 Social innovation is revamping the way how people are working in organizations and by individuals, and so that both labour productivity and quality of life benefit from it. The term social innovation has been introduced to distinguish it from the traditional concept of innovation, which mostly means technological innovation. 15 Action E Social innovation,/vital companies, provides subsidies to employers that improve business processes and increase sustainable availability to work more effectively. 16 Agentschap SZW (2013) Annual Implementation Report 2012, page

24 Aggregation of results: 127,520 persons gaining employment 51,549 persons achieving a (partly) qualification at level 1 of vocational training 208,008 persons having achieved a (partly) qualification at level 2-4 of vocational training persons having achieved another type of recognized qualification: 462,211 3,641 projects in the field of social innovation. Looking at the results by policy field, with reference to 9 in the annex, we find the following. Enhancing Access to Employment The participation in the interventions supported within this policy field progressed substantially. Within Action A (directed at the unemployed with a distance to the labour market) two indicator targets were set (each split into men/women). The first indicator regards the share of participants who complete a re-integration trajectory (75% within the project period). Till the end of % of the participants had completed their trajectory within the project period, which means that the target has not been accomplished. The reason behind is that some persons at the end of the project period still are participating in re-integration activities (without ESF funding). Looking at the results from another perspective, that of the absolute numbers, we see that totally 65,087 people of which almost 50% were women, completed re-integration trajectories, which is high above the original target of (262%). The second indicator regards the share of participants who get a paid job (8%). Statistics Netherlands (CBS) has carried out a study 17, which identifies the amount of participants who get a job from administrative sources. From the participants in the period, 31% had found a job after the re-integration trajectory (390% of the target), while 78% of them kept their jobs for more than 6 months. Looking at the absolute figures we see that by the end of 2014, 13,204 male and 8,333 female participants had flowed into paid work. This means that the share of women is less than 40%. For Action J (directed at youngsters) there were no quantified targets. The number of participants getting a job is 28,979. Furthermore 13,039 participants were placed on a work experience job, internship or trainee job and 16,626 participants were escorted to a training (including BBL or BOL). The CBS study shows that from the participants till % is working within six months of the re-integration trajectory and more than 85% of the persons finding a job still has the same job after six months. It is interesting to see that the interventions mostly targeted men. The share of women is only around one third for each of these three indicators. Reinforcing Social Inclusion Within Action B (directed at detainees), the target for the share of completed trajectory procedures within the project period was set at 80%. This target was not totally accomplished, because at the end of 2014, 74% of the participants who started their activities at the end of 2013 had completed their trajectories within that period. 18 The reason was the same as with action A: some of the participants after the project period are still participating in activities, which are not funded by the ESF. In absolute numbers, targets are accomplished by far: in total 17,638 persons have completed their trajectory activities, while the absolute target was 7,584, which means an implementation rate of 233%. Looking at the numbers separately for men and women we see that 2,605 women 17 Brief van de staatssecretaris van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid aan de voorzitter van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal d.d. 28 september 2015 over de uitvoering van het Europees Sociaal Fonds, page 8 and Annex Brief van de staatssecretaris van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid aan de voorzitter van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal d.d. 28 september 2015 over de uitvoering van het Europees Sociaal Fonds, page

25 completed their trajectories. This share of 15.9% may again explained by the fact that only 6% of Dutch custodial institutions capacity is intended for women. There are no targets included in the OP regarding the other result indicators within Action B. However we can see that the share of women receiving a qualification is less than a quarter in each level and e.g. only 16.4% of the 5,913 participants that achieve a (sub-) qualification at level 1.Again this may be explained by the fact that only 6% of Dutch custodial institutions capacity is intended for women. For Action C (directed at students in special education) the result target was defined as if 94% of the participants would complete their trajectory within the project period. This target has not been accomplished: of all the participants who started their trajectory between 2007 and 2013 end of % has completed the trajectory within the project period. 19 The reason behind is that most trajectories are much longer than the project period of twelve months because activities only stop when somebody is leaving school. Because of the high amount of participants, the targets concerning the number of completed pathways were clearly met in absolute numbers (26,509 out of targeted 4,935). The implementation rates are high for both, men (686.8%) and women (387.9%). It is still noticeable that also within Action C the share of women is distinctly low for each result indicator. According to the programme coordinator of Action C, the overall success of the action has been the result of an integral approach to deal with pupils who have learning deficiencies and to give support at all the various stages of being in school, preparing for the labour market, getting a job and further support while being in work. They are likely to address every relevant chain in the process of being at school and accessing the labour market. 20 Increasing Adaptability For Action D (training of workers) only one result target was set at the start of the period: a share of 85-90% of participants should complete their trajectory. This target has been accomplished. 21 The absolute number of completed procedures within the policy field Adaptability is much higher than expected. By the end of 2012 an implementation rate of 669% was reached (660,820 participants with a completed trajectory compared to the target value of 94,500). Again, as stated in Table 8. Overview of Country Specific Recommendations addressed to the Netherlands Year Human Capital 2004 CSR 3 increasing the effectiveness of and access to active measures for social benefit recipients and those at the greatest risk of becoming inactive; CSR 4 facilitating the transition from part-time to full-time jobs CSR 5 taking urgent action to tackle the causes of gender pay gaps and increasing the affordability of childcare facilities CSR 2 screening the work ability of people on disability benefits and assisting those who are able to work to find a suitable job, paying special attention to women under the age of 40 ESF contribution Access to Employment 1) screening the work ability of people on disability benefits; special attention to women under the age of 40. 2)increasing the effectiveness of and access to active measures for social benefit recipients and those at the greatest risk of becoming inactive; facilitating the integration of immigrants. 3) facilitating the transition from part-time to full-time jobs. 4) taking action to tackle the causes of gender pay gapes and ESF contribution 19 Brief van de staatssecretaris van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid aan de voorzitter van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal d.d. 28 september 2015 over de uitvoering van het Europees Sociaal Fonds, page ESF Ex post evaluation Reinforcing Social Inclusion, Country Report Netherlands 21 Brief van de staatssecretaris van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid aan de voorzitter van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal d.d. 28 september 2015 over de uitvoering van het Europees Sociaal Fonds, page

26 Year 2005 Human Capital ESF contribution Access to Employment increasing the affordability of childcare facilities. ESF contribution CSR 1 takes further measures to improve labour supply, notably of older workers, women and disadvantaged groups 2008 CSR 1 Take measures to improve labour supply of women, older worker and disadvantaged groups with a view of raising overall hours worked in the economy CSR 1 takes further measures to improve labour supply women, older workers and disadvantaged groups 2009 CSR 1 develop further measures, including fostering labour market transitions within an integrated flexicurity approach, with a view to raising overall hours worked 2010 CSR 1 improve the participation of women, older workers and disadvantaged groups The policy area in the Dutch National Reform Programme where challenges need to be addressed with the highest priority is in improving labour supply. Against this background, it is recommended that the Netherlands: take further measures to improve labour supply, notably of older workers, women and disadvantaged groups. The policy area in the Dutch National Reform Programme where challenges need to be tackled with the highest priority is in improving labour supply. Against this background it is recommended that the Netherlands: take further measures to improve labour supply of women, older workers and disadvantaged groups with a view to raising overall hours worked in the economy. In light of the Commission's assessment of progress made, the Council recommends the Netherlands to pursue the implementation of structural reforms. In particular, it is recommended that the Netherlands: develops further measures, including fostering labour market transitions within an integrated flexicurity approach, to improve the participation of women, older workers and disadvantaged groups with a view to raising overall hours worked Enhance participation in the labour market by reducing fiscal disincentives for second-income earners to work and draw up measures to support the most vulnerable groups and help them to re-integrate within the labour market Enhance participation in the labour market, particularly of older people, women, and people with disabilities and migrants, including by further reducing tax disincentives for second-income 26

27 Year Human Capital ESF contribution Access to Employment earners, fostering labour market transitions, and addressing rigidities ) to increase labour market participation and mobility. 2) improve the employability of people at the margin of the labour market, including women, people with a migrant background, people with a disability and the elderly ESF contribution 3) reduce tax disincentives on labour. Implement reforms of employment protection legislation and the unemployment benefit system, and further address labour market rigidities. In consultation with the social partners and in accordance with national practice, allow for more differentiated wage increases by making full use of the existing institutional framework 27

28 , the share of women having achieved a qualification within Action D is low for each result indicator. According to the figures out of the AIR 2014 till 2012 a total number of 26,876 participants earned a starting qualification within Action D (4%). The target was defined as such that 10% of the participants who lacked a starting qualification should complete their trajectory with a starting qualification. We do not know, however, how many participants lacked a starting qualification before the ESF funded intervention. Finally, regarding Action E (social innovation) the result target has been defined as that 90% of the projects should lead to an implementation plan or another type of final product. This target has not been accomplished. Of the projects 82% have led to some kind of product. Some of the organizations involved have not delivered because of the crisis. In absolute numbers the original target of 252 implementation plans or other products has been met by far. A total number of 3,672 implementation plans on social innovation have been submitted in the Netherlands in the programming period Evidence of effectiveness Due to missing targets for Action J (youngsters) within the policy field Access to employment it is hard to draw valid conclusions about impact and effectiveness. The interim evaluation of Action A (unemployed) stated that in 2008 too little programmes were subsidized and the coverage ratio was much too low. At that moment, the total budget requests were far below the available amount of subsidy. In 2009 the total amount that was declared by applicants was about half of the total amount granted in the application period. 23 By end of 2014, however, most of the intended targets were reached. The only target that has not been accomplished is the one on the share of completed trajectories (see above). This can be explained easily, because the reintegration activities of participants in many cases are being continued after the end of the ESF project. For both Actions A and J Statistics Netherlands has counted the percentage of participants who had found a job six months after the end of their trajectories (a part of which might be completed only some time after ESF funding stopped). It also counted the share of participants who kept their jobs for more than six months. This is very substantial information, because the identification number of participants has been linked with the administration of the Delivery Organization for Benefits (UWV), which contains information on the employment status of all workers and persons on a benefit in the Netherlands. The report of Statistics Netherlands has proved that targets on the share of persons with a job have been met (Action A) that both for action A and J a substantial share of participants found a sustainable job. The number of competed re-integration trajectories and a percentage of placements, which is high above the original target, seems to indicate success. We must, however, keep in perspective, that because of the crisis the target group that has been supported mostly has shifted from the most vulnerable unemployed to persons who recently lost their jobs. For both Actions within the policy field Social Inclusion it is the same story as with Action A: the target on the share of completed trajectories is not being met. For both Action B (detainees) and Action C (special education) the reason is that many activities continue after ESF funding has stopped. And again, just as with Action A, there is hard evidence from Statistic Netherlands on the share of participants who find a job (and for the share of those participants who still have the job after 6 months). For Action B the share of participants finding a job after the trajectory is 17% and a little more than half of them still have the job after six months. 22 Jaarverslag 2014, page Final Country Report: Main ESF achievements in the Netherlands. Outputs and results of the ESF in the programming period, page

29 The data on results for Action C shows that of those who have finished a project in 2010, 25% had a job when finishing the project, and six months after ending the project 19% still held a job, which is a similar percentage for twelve months after ending the project (See Annex 1). Of those who did not have a job after finishing the project, 11% did have employment six months later, and 16% had a job after twelve months (Statistics Netherlands, 2014). For participants who finished a project in 2012, the statistics show very similar results. 24 As stated above: many participants are still in trajectory activities after ESF funding stops. Statistics Netherlands has also published data on the share of participants who find a job within six months of the end of the trajectory (= mostly six months after leaving school); 38% is working and 70% of them still has the job six months later. 25 Whereas there are no targets regarding the share of participants who should find a job it is difficult to evaluate success in this aspect. Again, the high number of participants and the fact that many of the vulnerable persons found a job may proof the success of the ESF. The (vast) majority of the participants finalizing a procedure or earning a (sub-) qualification within Action D (Adaptability) is male. The results were not differentiated any other way, so it is not known how many of the participants out of the (priority) target groups were reached. During the 2010 evaluation, the programme utilization rate of Action D was rather low because the total amount of funding declared by applicants was about half of the total amount of funding granted in the application period and therefore financial resources have been reallocated From Action D to Action E. At the end of the programming period, the amount of participants is much higher than the original target. Almost all participants complete their trajectories before the end of the project. In this regards, again, ESF seems successful. The ESF Social Innovation scheme (Action E) can be considered effective in three points. First, the measure encouraged or enabled participating organisations to start paying attention to social innovation. Second, the intended output in form of implementation plans was achieved. And third, important results and effects have already been achieved with the pilot projects and the execution of the implementation plans at the time of evaluation. Over the years there is made almost optimal use out of the resources available within Action E. It is not known whether the organizations that participated are for example working smarter and/or creating more flexible work. From the above, the conclusion may be drawn that: In general, the Dutch OP has met its targets and in this way may be considered effective. Also figures of Statistics Netherlands on the share of participants who find a job after the intervention seem to indicate that the effectiveness of the interventions under the OP is high: for Access to Employment interventions the targets are being exceeded by far and also the share of participants getting a job is high with Action C (special education; under the Social Inclusion theme). That both in the fields of Access to Employment and Social Inclusion the share of completed trajectories is lower than originally targeted may be explained by the fact that many activities continue after ESF funding has stopped. 24 ESF Expost evaluation Reinforcing Social Inclusion, Country Report Netherlands 25 Brief van de staatssecretaris van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid aan de voorzitter van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal d.d. 28 september 2015 over de uitvoering van het Europees Sociaal Fonds, page 12/. 29

30 4 Efficiency by theme Intervention level There is only little information available on the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the ESF during the programming period in the Netherlands. The reason behind is that the ESF in each of the Actions, especially for A, J and D, a wide range of different interventions may be funded. This makes measurement of the efficiency of the different interventions very difficult: Each intervention covered a range of different activities, which are combined in projects in various ways. Consequently, there was a great diversity of outputs and activities between the projects funded. Based on the data available, without a very detailed analysis of individual projects budgets it was not possible to accurately analyse the costs per person trained or by individual training programme. The monitoring data did not sufficiently reflect the differences in the type of support received by participants: some persons participated in longer training programmes, others through short programmes. The budget monitoring data is available at the level of projects but single projects cover multiple activities and it is not clear what share of the budget went to what types of activities. The 2015 evaluation of Action E, which is about projects in the field of social innovation, also comprises no information about the efficiency of the interventions. 26 The only other information about the efficiency of individual interventions was available in the Social Inclusion thematic evaluation (mostly dealing with Actions B and C), but without any description or comparators (benchmarks). Intervention ESF 2009 AB/GA (trajectories for long-term unemployed in The Hague) Cost per participant 41 People with a disability Amsterdam 1,431 Berg en Boschschool (School for secondary special education _ Utrecht province) Jeugd aan zet in Midden Holland (a sectoral approach for youth wit a distance to the labour market) Transition into work (for pupils of special education) Reintegration custodial institutions agency 1, ,196 2,350 Cost per result Accessed further education: 29,466 Total outflow to employment: 18,601 Access to sheltered employment: 35,359 Access to regular employment: 39,288 3,961 Source: Ex-post evaluation Social Inclusion, Volume III Also for the interventions under Actions B and C, it is very difficult to conclude a comparison of costs per outputs (persons supported and products developed). There is also a large variation of activities across the interventions analysed. 26 Ecorys, Evaluatie ESF-programma E2 regeling, September

31 In order to measure the efficiency of ESF interventions we would need a consistent assessment of their costs in relation to the costs of similar interventions not funded by the ESF (benchmark costs). Such information is not available. As a whole, however, also the costs of interventions under the theme of Social Inclusion seem comparable with those of not ESF-subsidized intervention in the same field. The only exception is the first mentioned intervention regarding the long-term unemployed in The Hague, of which the costs are very low. Thematic level At first, it is important to state that the amount of participants under the Dutch OP is much higher than originally targeted (while the amount of funding has stayed the same). This is especially the case for the interventions under the Adaptability/Human Capital and Access to Employment themes, where also the result targets are being met. This seems to indicate a high efficiency of interventions. In a report studying the possibilities for standard unit costs for ESF in the Netherlands in the programming period a comparison has been made of the costs per participant/output for a representative set of projects under Action A ESF (representing part of the interventions under the theme of Access to Employment) and a database with data on comparable re-integration trajectories organized by communities and reintegration firms. The average costs per output of ESF-funded projects are slightly lower ( 1,900 vs 2,000). 27 A calculation of cost per output can also be made by comparing the funding available with the amount of participants. The following table shows these costs per output for the several themes (excluding Action E which is about interventions in companies). Table 3. Cost per participant by theme (in EUR) Theme Cost per output (in EUR) Adaptability/Human Capital 639 Access to Employment 836 Social Inclusion 2,333 Total 976 Source: SFC2007/Jaarverslag 2014/Kamerbrief 28 september 2015; Authors calculation As the table is showing, the average costs of interventions in the field of social inclusion were much higher than the costs of the interventions under the two other themes. Especially the costs in the field of Adaptability/Human Capital are low, but these concern mostly rather short training activities. The cost of A2E per output is slightly higher. Most of the interventions only concern guidance or very short trainings (especially under Action J concerning young people), so that can also be explained. That might also be the reason why the average cost of ALMP per participant in the Netherlands is much higher (more than 10,500 in 2013), because that also includes also re-integration trajectories, which are much longer and sometimes include expensive trainings. The costs for interventions in the field of social inclusion are higher than those of the other two themes, which may be explained by the fact that these also include longer and more expensive trainings while also the trajectories themselves may be longer. 27 J. Gravesteijn a.o., Vereenvoudiging van de kostensystematiek in het ESF-programma Een analyse van de opties, april

32 5 Sustainability Sustainability of results for individuals and entities The effectiveness and sustainability of the ESF funded interventions with participants is illustrated by various impact indicators. The study of Statistics Netherlands provides information on the share of participants who are still working 12 months after the end of the trajectories. Regarding the policy field Access to employment overall 105,414 people flowed into sustainable paid work. In detail this means 40,581 participants (share of woman 40%) from action A and 64,833 participants (share of women 29%) from action J. From the participants till 2010, 24% (action A) and 56% (Action J) had a job 12 months after the end of the trajectory. The impact indicators of the policy field Social Inclusion show that 22,106 participants achieved (sustainable) outflow into labour/paid work within this policy field. For action B this means 2,433 people with a share of women of 16.4%. Within Action C there are 19,673 people counted with a share of women of 33.7%. From the participants till 2011, 9% (Action B) and 27% (Action C) had a job 12 months after the end of the trajectory. In the policy field Adaptability, out of all participants that have completed a programme within in Action D, almost everybody (573,315 men and 220,631 women, which is a total number of 793,946) is in sustainable/stable employment. Sustainability of interventions Regarding the sustainability of interventions, the OP more or less continues the Actions A, J, B, C and E, although the volume of interventions will be lower. Just like in the programming period, both the municipalities and the PES also have a large volume of Action A- and Action J-like interventions which are funded from their own budgets. Action D-like interventions are no longer funded by the ESF, but are still kept alive by funding of the sectoral labour market and development funds. Moreover, for the period, the Dutch government is co-funding so-called sector plans (for which both sectoral funds and regional partners may apply), which also cover a lot of activities formerly funded by the ESF. 32

33 6 Gender sensitivity First it has to be said, that in the Netherlands there were no specific gender oriented ESF funded actions and interventions. Under Action A, however, there are specific interventions for persons without a social or employment benefit, who are looking for work, many of whom are women (56%). In programme interventions gender was not taken into account as a variable when selecting participants, and activities should not discriminate between participants. 28 Share of participants Table 3 illustrates the gender balance of the respective policy fields. It is noticeable that women are under-represented in all policy fields of ESF Overall men are over represented among the participants, with 68.1% being men and 31.9% being women. Table 4. Policy field Share of women by policy field Share of women (in % of total participants) Access to Employment 41.2 Reinforcing social inclusion 31.8 Increasing adaptability 28.2 Total 31.9 Source: AIR 2014 The share of women of the total number of participants is the highest within Access to employment, but still much less than the half (41.2%). That there are more women participating within this policy field than within the other policy fields can partly be explained by the fact already mentioned above that the job seekers without social or employment benefit are often women. At the other hand are women underrepresented within two other target groups of action A: disabled persons and elderly unemployed. The low representation of women within the Social Inclusion policy field may be explained by two factors: Action B is about (ex) detainees. The female departments of Dutch penitentiary institutions are quite small; offenders are most often men. Action C is about special education. Girls in education are most of the time achieving better than boys, and for that reason are underrepresented in special education. Within the policy field Increasing adaptability the share of women is less than 30%. The cause of this, is that most applications for ESF funding are coming from sectors of industry where the majority of workers is male. Results All target values of the output indicators as well as the targets set in the result indicators provide a differentiated number for men and women. Usually the share is 50/50, only sometimes the target number for women is slightly higher than for men. When we compare the share of output with the share of positive results, we see the following: Under Action A (unemployed) the share of female participants is 41%, while their share in completed re-integration trajectories id 49% and their share in inflow into employment is 39%. Under Action J (youngsters) the share of female participants is 35% while the share of women in inflow into employment/training is 32%. 28 ESF ex post evaluation: Supporting the integration of disadvantaged groups into the labour market and society Phase 2 report for the Netherlands - December

34 Regarding Action B (detainees) the share of female participants is 15% while their share of completed procedures is 16%. Action C (special education) show a share of women in the amount of participants of 36%, while their share of completed pathways is also 36% but their share of outflow into paid work is 34%. The share of women participating in Action D (training of workers) is 28% while their share in completed procedures is 27%. 34

35 7 Community added value 7.1 Volume effects Overall the ESF funding was mainly used to provide additional funding to existing measures to increase the number of participants supported. This was especially the case with the Actions A, J and D. In the framework of the Actions A (targeting persons with a distance to the labour market) and J (targeting young persons who needed additional training and other types of labour market directed support) it was possible for the municipalities and the PES to offer more re-integration pathways than would have been possible without the ESF. The same is even truer for Action D, which targeted the training of workers. It is very difficult to provide an exact quantification of these effects, because it is hard to estimate whether communities and the UWV (Delivery Organization for Employee Benefits) in the case of Action A and J would have found other budgets to support the same groups when ESF would not have been available. The same is the case for companies or even the social partners in the Labour Market Funds for Action D. A rough estimate would be that there would have been no budget for about half of the amount of participants, which would indicate an additional volume of participants from the ESF of about 190,000 for Action A; 95,000 for Action J and 480,000 for Action D. 7.2 Scope effects Scope effects can be identify particularly for the Actions B and C, which target the l inclusion on the labour market of two specific target groups: Detainees, patients with mental health issues in custodial institutions and youth in juvenile custodial institutions Disabled students in secondary special education. For both groups there were no instruments for re-integration into the labour market available from general policies in the Netherlands before Action B Detainees rarely serve their prison sentences in the city where they are registered as a resident, and as a result this group does not always have access to the municipal facilities for the long-term unemployed. This justified drawing on additional ESF funding within Action B, because it adds to the existing actions of municipalities. 29 The resources that the ESF provides ensure that the educational training, courses and the individual counselling can be implemented professionally. Also, institutions can offer more and more educational training and courses and therefore set up the optimal employment support programme. 30 Some institutions had already implemented a sort of counselling in the existing organizational structure. ESF ensured that coaches or mentors can now spend more time on the subject of employment. 31 Action C The evaluation report of Action C (Research voor Beleid) emphasized the community added value of the ESF subsidies by which the interventions are funded with regard to practical training (PRO) and secondary special education (VSO). The participating schools reported that one of the most important yields of ESF is the professionalism that they are now able to give to their programmes for employment support. They also reported that without subsidy, they would not be able to purchase all the necessary equipment, 29 Agentschap SZW (2007). Operational Programme, The Netherlands, ESF ; page Interim Evaluation ESF Actions B and C (Research voor Beleid), p Ibid. 35

36 machines and materials. Also, without subsidy (a large part of) the industry-specific courses can no longer be offered Role effects There is no case of local/regional innovations that are taken up at national level or national innovative actions that are mainstreamed. The reason is that in the Netherlands is funding a wide spectrum of different individual-directed activities. There are no specific ESF-projects that are innovative at the local, regional or national level. Project promoters state that because of the administrative burden of the ESF and the rather small percentage of co-financing (50% or less) by the ESF it is less suitable for setting up innovative projects, because such projects are hardly cost-effective. 7.4 Process effects The evaluation report of Action B and C (Research voor Beleid) state that several respondents who were interviewed have explained that the added value of ESF is not only in the content of the programmes, but also in their organization. Within Action C the schools became more aware of the objective of employment support, allowing them to work more purposefully. The programmes are structured better because who was doing what and what the main results were, needed to be accurately recorded. 33 Additionally, as has been demonstrated in the so-called Door naar werk (Transition to Work ) projects, the ESF-programme has been contributing to a critical assessment of the education programme of special education schools and of the trajectory of guiding pupils to work, after which some items of the work-inflow trajectory have been improved. The project managers within Action B explained that before the ESF subsidies, detainees were offered ad hoc educational programmes, but these lacked structure and clear objectives. The ESF is making sure that these are applied in the programmes. So besides the fact that the interventions within Action B are co-financed by the ESF and therefore better addressed, the ESF provides clear frameworks and guidelines Interim Evaluation ESF Actions B and C (Research voor Beleid), p Idem. 34 Idem. 36

37 8 Socio-economic impact Macro-level Looking at the socio-economic trends over the programming period, we can see that the Netherlands is still struggling to overcome the effects of the economic and financial crisis. The overall employment rate and that of younger people (15-24) are consistently lower than pre-crisis rates and no recovery could be seen in the last years. Only the employment rate of older workers (55-64) has risen in the last years to a rate higher than the level before. The share of part-time employment in the Netherlands is the highest within the EU; it shows a notably upward trend during the entire programming period. Table 5. Socio-economic indicators trends Access to Employment Source: Eurostat Unemployment and NEET rates have also shown no improvement and continued to rise significantly in 2012 and Looking at the effects of the OP on the socio-economic trends in the country, some positive impacts can be regarded. Overall between 2007 and 2014 there are 921,466 participants that gain sustainable paid work. The development of early school leaving is positive over the whole programming period. There may have been some positive impact on this development from the side of the ESF, in particular from actions J (youngsters) and C (special education). The development of the indicator for educational attainment is also positive. One may doubt, however, what has been the contribution of the ESF, especially from Action D, because the financial contribution per training has been rather small. Meso-level It is not possible to identify much impact at the meso-level. There also seems to be no link with strengthening institutional capacity. An exception can be made for the Action B (detainees). The SI thematic evaluation report on the Netherlands explains that in the framework of the ESF funded interventions, penitentiary institutes have looked for and found several partners (e.g. the PES) with whom they collaborated in re-integrating (ex) detainees into the labour market. Micro-level Trendline Employment rate Unemployment rate Young people NEET, 15-24y Employment rates, Females, 15-64y Human capital Early school leaving Educational attainment Social Inclusion Population at risk of poverty There is significant proof of a positive impact of the ESF at the level of persons and enterprises. For instance, action J1 and J2 (projects related to education, labour market and support for youth who have additional problems) were designed after the crisis started showing impacts on the employment opportunities of youth. The results show that 66% of the participants who have been in a youth project (more than 140,000 by 2014) has received a job within six months after having finished the project. Of this group 85% has been in 37

38 a job for six months or longer. 35 In addition, almost 8% has started further education within six months after finishing the ESF-project. Another 2% has flown into a new reintegration project (number for 2009 and 2010). Also for action B (reintegrating detainees) are there some encouraging findings. While only a small part of the ESF participants had a job or was in education after their detention, ESF-activity participation appears to have a smaller risk of recidivism: ESF participants show lower recidivism figures than non-participating (juvenile and adult) exdetainees. Looking at the adult ex-detainees, participation in an ESF funded programme correlates with a higher chance of having a job or attending education after detention. Being in a job or in education moreover correlates with lower recidivism chances than being inactive and/or receiving social benefit. 36 In 2011 the pilot projects for Action E (social innovation) and the implementation of the plans appeared to have achieved already significant effects. These effects are especially related to more variety on the work floor, a better picture or image of the organisation among workers and better use of competences and skills of employees. An improvement of the quality of work is mainly expressed through greater involvement of workers and more autonomy at work Brief van de staatssecretaris van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid aan de voorzitter van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal d.d. 28 september 2015 over de uitvoering van het Europees Sociaal Fonds, page 9 36 WODC, Effect deelname ESF-projecten op werk/opleiding en strafrechtelijke recidive, Bureau Bartels, Evaluatie Tijdvak 1 Actie E Sociale Innovatie, van het ESF-programma , April

39 9 Key lessons learned 9.1 What are the key lessons in terms of policy choices? As has been concluded in the 2006 ex ante evaluation of the ESF programme for the Netherlands 38, at the beginning of the programming period, the concentration of funding on both training of workers and re-integration of the unemployed was in agreement with socio-economic reality. Just before the crisis a shortage of labour market supply was forecasted and the main way to solve this was to upgrade workers through training (Action D) and to support the unemployed who had difficulties finding a job (the target groups of Action A) on the labour market. Actions B and C were targeting specific groups, see 9.2 below. The crisis changed the perspective (see Chapter 8), but it still remained important to support the unemployed and to train workers. In the last case, even with the increase of unemployment, there was still a need for higher skilled workers, because of the existing skill mismatches, especially in the technical and health care sectors. At the same time, youth unemployment increased, so the creation of Action J in the revised version of the OP fitted well to the new economic situation. It was also recognized, that, should the Netherlands survive the crisis and new economic downturns thereafter, it should be important to do more investing in social innovation. As a consequence, there was more funding allocated to Action E as originally planned. Because of the above and because of the alignment of the choices made with the CSRs and the Lisbon and EU2020 strategies (see Chapter 1), the policy choices made in the Netherlands seem appropriate. A little bit more attention to the gender aspects (see Chapter 6) may have made the impacts of the OP still stronger. 9.2 What are the key lessons in terms of target groups? The OP for the Netherlands comprises several specifically defined target groups. From the perspective that most other unemployed and inactive persons who should (re)integrate into the labour market were targeted by national ALMP, it was a good underpinned choice to target these groups (see Chapter 2). 39 The several mid-term evaluations of Actions A, B and C have also supported this vision. More recently a rather positive evaluation of the use of ESF funding for reintegrating detainees (WODC, 2013) has been carried out. The target groups for Actions B and C (which also seem to overlap somehow, because part of the detainees in Dutch prisons and youth institutions derive from special education) are especially finding themselves at the very far fringes of the labour market and will have a lot of trouble finding a job without support. It has also been a good choice to fund specific pathways and counselling for these groups, who need much more support than other target groups. The funding of specific interventions for young people has also been successful, as has been shown in several places above, as many of them have been supported in finding a job or returning to education. 9.3 What are the key lessons in terms of the appropriate programming? Programming went well, especially because the possibility was created to change the programme in 2009 when the crisis changed the needs for labour market interventions in the Netherlands. One remark should be made regarding the (sometimes very substantial) overachievement of several of the original targets as has been defined in the OP. In large investments were needed in both the interventions for the unemployed 38 Panteia, Ex ante evaluatie ESF Nederland , Regarding the original OP, see: Panteia, Ex ante evaluatie ESF Nederland ,

40 (Action A) and the workers (Action D). The target groups of Action A were at a distance from the labour market; they were the unemployed who weren t able to find a job even when economy prospered. In the case of Action D it was necessary to target the severe skill mismatches, which appeared by long and expensive trainings of workers. With the crisis, things changed. Many people became unemployed who could be re-integrated with shorter interventions, and investments in workers changed into regular trainings to keep their knowledge up-to-date. Moreover, the interventions needed for youth (the new Action J) are most of the time shorter than those for older unemployed. While this explains the overachievement in meeting the targets of the OP it also shows the flexibility of the OP. 9.4 What are the key lessons in terms of the effective implementation? A first lesson concerning implementation concerns the high administrative burden that ESF imposes on projects. This is also a general remark of the mid term evaluation by Research voor Beleid, which was carried out in the middle (2010/2011) of the ESF-period This evaluation even attributes the low take-up of projects in the early stages of the ESF-period to communicative and administrative reasons. Applicants had troubles with the complexity and administrative requirement that comes with writing a proposal and executing the eventual project. The evaluation states that interviewees acknowledged the importance that the use of funding should be checked, yet find that the focus is too much on administrative details instead of on the results the projects generate (Research voor Beleid, 2010). The complaints of project promoters have been adapted by the Managing Authority; there were several changes in the ESF administrative procedures for the new programming period There is also a second, particular, lesson mentioned in relation to Action B. The national coordinator of Action B mentioned in the interview for the SI thematic evaluation in the framework of this ex post evaluation that ESF is aimed at integration into a job, yet for the institutes, preventing recidivism is key as well, and this seems to be successful (despite the cautious conclusions the researchers draw from their study). According to the SI thematic report this has to do a lot with the fact that ESF allows funding for oneto-one coaching and guidance, thus having quite intensive guidance of detainees who follow a trajectory. 40 Thirdly, in the past years ESF has enabled more firm contacts with municipalities to be made, or PES to build up a network for inmates with which they may make use after their release. Such networks are built up by a coach or case manager while the detainee is still inside, and this may act as a supporting bridge to the life outside. The past years institutes have been developing moreover the practice to provide aftercare for the first month after release What are the key lessons in terms of monitoring? From the evaluations of the former programming period, the Dutch Managing Authority had already learned that it was necessary to decrease the administrative burden of project promoters and to monitor the results of the OP in a more robust way. For that reason the choice had been made not to rely on the project administration and the MIS, but to link the registration numbers of participants to the databases of Statistics Netherlands and to let this institute reports on the outputs (characteristics of participants) and results (finding a sustainable job, return into education) of participants. This decision has increased the reliability of indicators in a very substantial way (see Chapter 3 and 4). However, during the programming period, it became clear that some of the indicators couldn t have been measured well. This was mainly because the end date of 40 ESF ex post evaluation: Supporting the integration of disadvantaged groups into the labour market and society. Phase 2 report for the Netherlands - December WODC, Effect deelname ESF-projecten op werk/opleiding en strafrechtelijke recidive,

41 projects was administered well, but in reality the end of the project many times did not coincide with the end of the interventions directed at the participant, because special municipalities and organizations like the Delivery Organization for Employee Benefits (UWV) would still support them. As a consequence, participants did not finalize the reintegration and did not gain a (sustainable) job at the end of the project or 6 months afterwards. To solve this Statistic Netherlands has developed a method to define the end of the re-integration trajectory and to measure the results of the interventions within the OP in relation to that event. In this way, the Dutch MA has very exact data on the results and individual impacts of the ESF interventions that have been presented in this report. 9.6 What are the key lessons in terms of evaluation? Although Statistic Netherlands has monitored the results of the programme very well, for most of the funding there has been no evaluation activity since The exceptions are the Actions B (an evaluation by research institute of the Dutch Ministry of Safety and Justice WODC) and E (an evaluation which will be finalized at the end of 2015). As a consequence, while information on the outputs, results and impacts is available, there is, except for information on interventions during the first, partly precrisis years of implementation, hardly any evaluation of the causes and background of these results available. The greater part of interventions has been carried out in the later years of the programming period. A first lesson regarding evaluation should be that, should there have been more evaluation activities during these last years, there should have been better knowledge about the conclusions which could be drawn from the figures gathered by the MA and Statistic Netherlands. Some interviewees in the framework of the SI thematic evaluation also remark that it is difficult to establish causal effects between an activity and the results. They provide some examples. For instance, within municipalities the characteristics of participants within a course are very different. There may be both ESF-funded and non-esf funded participants within the same programme. Also a wide range of activities is offered which have different purposes. The large variety makes it difficult to know exactly whether flows to the labour market were related to the activity, to the particular characteristics of participants or to external factors. The lesson is that this could be improved in the next programming period. For groups with a considerable labour market distance, soft goals may be important as well, such as participating in volunteer work, getting a diploma or certificate or becoming socially active. They have not been measured by the indicators and may have been studied in the framework of further evaluation activities. This third lesson also comes from the SI thematic evaluation. 41

42 10 ANNEXES Table 6. Data on participants Access to Adaptability/ Share of Social Inclusion Total % Employment Human Capital women Total number of participants 383, , ,789 1,550, ,0 % 31.9% Employed 36.5% 12.7% 95.5% 1.083, % 28.9% of which self-employed 1.8% 0,1% 0.8% 9, % 22.0% Unemployed 29.5% 0.4% 1.2% 125, % 48.4% of which LTU 39.0% 32.9% 1.0% 47, % 53.9% Inactive 34.6% 86.9% 3.3% 340, % 35.5% of which in education/training 12.0% 90.5% 9.0% 176, % 36.3% Young people (15-24 years) 56.7% 76.7% 23.0% 594, % 33.4% Older people (55-64 years) 10.9% 0,3% 8.2% 121, % 28.1% Migrants 25.0% 11.4% 14.1% 255, % 42.0% Minorities 29.9% 27.6% 9.2% 259, % 38.3% Disabled 9.3% 6.3% 2.2% 69, % 32.2% Others 0.0% 98.6% 0.0% 199, % 31.6% Primary or lower secondary education (ISDEC 1 and 2) Upper secondary education (ISCED 3) Post-secondary non tertiary education (ISCED 4) 59.9% 96.1% 35.4% 762, % 32.3% 25.3% 2.3% 59.0% 669, % 30.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0 0,0% - Tertiary education (ISCED 5 and 6) 5.0% 0.0% 5.6% 73, % 37.1% Source: Excelsheet Deelnemerskenmerken cumulatief tm 2014, AIR 2014; calculations of the consultants. Because the education level has been determined by administrative comparison of the ESF registration and statistical databases, the educational details of some participants couldn t be determined. For that reason the percentages sometimes don t add up to 100%. 42

43 Table 7. Output indicators by policy field Type Indicator Access to Employment Final Target Implementa tion rate Share of women Output A01 Number of participants Action A 42 33, , % 47.2% Output A02 Number of participants Action A who are non-benefit entitled unemployed jobseekers 11,039 63, % 55.7% Output A03 Number of participants Action A being 55 plus of age with a WWB benefit 11,039 38, % 42.5% Output A04 Number of participants Action A partially disabled with an additional or sole WWB benefit 11,032 90, % 43.2% Output J01 Number of participants Action J 43 80, , % 35.1% Reinforcing Social Inclusion Output B01 Number of annual participants Action B (prisoners and young people in youth detention centres) 11,060 42, % 15.1% Output B02 Number of adult prisoners participating 2,765 16, % 4.4% Output B03 Number of mentally insane patients in custodial institutions participating 2,765 5, % 4.7% Output B04 Number of participants from juvenile custodial institutions (by penal legislation) 2,765 11, % 15.5% Output B05 Number of participants from juvenile custodial institutions (by civil legislation) 2,765 6, % 46.5% Output C01 Number of participants Action C (of students involved in secondary practical education (pro) and secondary special education (VSO) for the labour market) 5, , % 36.4% Increasing Adaptability Output D01 Number of participants Action D (low-skilled workers, including independents) 126, , % 28.2% Output E01 Number of social innovation projects Action E , % Source: SCF2007 (targets) and AIR 2014/Excelsheet Deelnemerskenmerken cumulatief tm 2014, (realisation figures) 42 Additional equipping and mediation of unemployed at a distance from/with a disadvantage at the labour market 43 Additional schooling, training respectively equipping of youngsters until the age of 27 on the labour market 44 This target related to projects of a different shape than the projects realized after a 2012 change of strategy. 43

44 Table 8. Overview of Country Specific Recommendations addressed to the Netherlands Year Human Capital 2004 CSR 3 increasing the effectiveness of and access to active measures for social benefit recipients and those at the greatest risk of becoming inactive; CSR 4 facilitating the transition from part-time to full-time jobs CSR 5 taking urgent action to tackle the causes of gender pay gaps and increasing the affordability of childcare facilities CSR 2 screening the work ability of people on disability benefits and assisting those who are able to work to find a suitable job, paying special attention to women under the age of ESF contribution Access to Employment 1) screening the work ability of people on disability benefits; special attention to women under the age of 40. 2)increasing the effectiveness of and access to active measures for social benefit recipients and those at the greatest risk of becoming inactive; facilitating the integration of immigrants. 3) facilitating the transition from part-time to full-time jobs. 4) taking action to tackle the causes of gender pay gapes and increasing the affordability of childcare facilities. ESF contribution Social Inclusion ESF contribution CSR 1 takes further measures to improve labour supply, notably of older workers, women and disadvantaged groups 2008 CSR 1 Take measures to improve labour supply of women, older worker and disadvantaged groups The policy area in the Dutch National Reform Programme where challenges need to be addressed with the highest priority is in improving labour supply. Against this background, it is recommended that the Netherlands: take further measures to improve labour supply, notably of older workers, women and disadvantaged groups. The policy area in the Dutch National Reform Programme where challenges need to be tackled with 44

45 Year Human Capital with a view of raising overall hours worked in the economy CSR 1 takes further measures to improve labour supply women, older workers and disadvantaged groups 2009 CSR 1 develop further measures, including fostering labour market transitions within an integrated flexicurity approach, with a view to raising overall hours worked 2010 CSR 1 improve the participation of women, older workers and disadvantaged groups ESF contribution Access to Employment the highest priority is in improving labour supply. Against this background it is recommended that the Netherlands: take further measures to improve labour supply of women, older workers and disadvantaged groups with a view to raising overall hours worked in the economy. In light of the Commission's assessment of progress made, the Council recommends the Netherlands to pursue the implementation of structural reforms. In particular, it is recommended that the Netherlands: develops further measures, including fostering labour market transitions within an integrated flexicurity approach, to improve the participation of women, older workers and disadvantaged groups with a view to raising overall hours worked. ESF contribution Social Inclusion ESF contribution 2011 Enhance participation in the labour market by reducing fiscal disincentives for second-income earners to work and draw up measures to support the most vulnerable groups and help them to re-integrate within the labour market Enhance participation in the labour market, particularly of older people, women, and people with disabilities and migrants, including 45

46 Year Human Capital ESF contribution Access to Employment by further reducing tax disincentives for second-income earners, fostering labour market transitions, and addressing rigidities ) to increase labour market participation and mobility. ESF contribution Social Inclusion ESF contribution 2) improve the employability of people at the margin of the labour market, including women, people with a migrant background, people with a disability and the elderly 3) reduce tax disincentives on labour. Implement reforms of employment protection legislation and the unemployment benefit system, and further address labour market rigidities. In consultation with the social partners and in accordance with national practice, allow for more differentiated wage increases by making full use of the existing institutional framework 46

47 Table 9. Result indicators by policy field Type Access to Employment Indicator Final Target Implement ation rate Share of women Result aggregation Result Result Result Result Result A05 Number of completed re-integration Action A A06 Percentage of participants gaining paid work Action A J02 Number of participants placed on a job Action J J03 Number of participants placed on a werkervaringsplaats (work experience), internship or trainee job Action J J04 Participants escorted to a training (including BBL or BOL) or employment Action J 24,836 65, % 48.8% Reintegration 8% 40, % 38.7% People in employment 28, % People in employment 13, % People in employment 16, % Reinforcing Social Inclusion Result Result Result Result Result B06 Percentage of completed procedures Action B 45 B07 Number of participants Action B that achieve a (sub-) qualification at level 1 B08 Number of participants Action B that achieve a (sub-) qualification at level 2-4 B09 Number of participants Action B that achieve a start qualification (i.e. minimum education level required to be able to find sustainable employment) C02 Percentage of completed pathways Action C 46 80% 28, % 15.9% Reintegration 5, % Qualification % Qualification % 94% 26, % 36.2% Reintegration Result C03 Achieved outflow to MBO- level 1 Action C 9, % Result C04 Achieved outflow to BBL (occupation supported learning way) Action C 4, % 45 Re-integration of detainees, mentally ill patients in custodial institutions and youth in juvenile custodial institutions 46 Practical labour market training in secondary special education for disabled students 47

48 Type Result Indicator C05 Achieved outflow to (normal or sheltered) paid work Action C Final Target Implement ation rate Share of women Result aggregation 10, % People in employment Increasing Adaptability Result D02 Percentage of completed procedures Action D % 660, % 26.9% Training Result Result D03 Number of participants Action D having achieved a (partly) qualification of level 1 D04 Number of participants Action D having achieved a (partly) qualification of level 2 to 4 45, % Qualification1 207, % Qualification 2-4 Result D05 Number of participants Action D that has reached a start qualification 26, % Result Result Result Result D06 Number of participants Action D having achieved a school level qualification of level 3 or 4 D07 Number of participants Action D having completed an EVC trajectory (recognition of experience) D08 Number of participants Action D that have completed a recognized qualification measure though not mentioned in the Crebo register D09 Number of participants Action D having followed a cross-sectoral training measure 22, % 8, % 462, % 37, % Result E02 Percentage of implementation plans Action E 48 90% 3, % Projects Source: SCF2007 (targets) and Jaarverslag 2014/Kamerbrief 28 september 2015 (realization figures) 47 Projects focused on improving the labour market position of low-skilled workers or workers without a starting qualification 48 Social Innovation (focused on increasing labour productivity) 48

49 Table 10. Inventory of evaluations Title of evaluation Author Type of evaluation Date Scope Interim evaluation ESF Actions A and D Research voor Beleid Process/effect Research voor Beleid 2011 Interim evaluation ESF Actions B and C Process/effect Evaluation Period 1 Action E of the ESF-programme Bureau Bartels Process/effect Effects participation ESF-projects on work/training and reconviction Scientific Research and Documentation Centre Ministry of Justice Effect Ecorys, Evaluation ESF-programme E2 Action Ecorys Process/effect

50 Free publications: HOW TO OBTAIN EU PUBLICATIONS one copy: via EU Bookshop ( more than one copy or posters/maps: from the European Union s representations ( from the delegations in non-eu countries ( by contacting the Europe Direct service ( or calling (freephone number from anywhere in the EU) (*). (*) The information given is free, as are most calls (though some operators, phone boxes or hotels may charge you). Priced publications: via EU Bookshop ( Priced subscriptions: via one of the sales agents of the Publications Office of the European Union (

51 doi:[number] [Catalogue number]