Nermin Aydemir JTW Columnist printable version send your friend message to author add comment ()

Friday, 9 January 2009

Immigrant groups in the Netherlands are increasingly integrating to the education system and labor market, according to the latest integration report of the Central Bureau for statistics. Although differences between the native and the migrants remain to some extent, the second and third generations perform much better than their (grand) parents. 

Only 3 out of 100 have a high education diploma among those immigrants between 45 and 64 ages old. This ratio rises to 10% among Turks and 11% among Moroccans between 25 and 44. When it comes to a younger age range, to those between 15 and 24, the ratio increases to 11% among Turks and to 16% among Moroccans.[1] Unsurprisingly, the language capabilities are also more advanced among the later generations. The second generation scores 2.9 out of 3 points according to the same research while the first comers only reach to 2 points[2]. It is not only generation what determines language competency. High education also contributes to communication skills, as excepted. Those, who just have a primary school education, have much further problems in reading, speaking and especially writing in the Dutch language.

The Unemployment Issue among the Young Immigrants

The unemployment rate is much higher among later generations despite all their advantages over their forebears. Unemployment rate among the second generation is 19% whereas it is 14% among those who came first.[3] The globalization of the world economy and the shift of the capital towards those countries with lower production costs can be seen as the best explanation to this puzzle. The labor force of the unskilled worker has no more any value in the Western economies as the production costs in Eastern European and Far-East countries get lower with each passing day. The production costs per person in developed world and European Union is 62,952 US dollars while this number trims down to 18,121 in Central and South Eastern Europe, to 12,591 in East Asia and to 9,419 in South East Asia and the Pacific.[4] Those live in developed countries need developed skills in the labor market. This is why only 3 out of every 100 Turkish originated person is unemployed where this number is 22% among those with only a primary education.

The Need for Skilled Labor

Dutch officials appear to act reasonably in their efforts in amplifying the immigrant work force. Countless studies, official reports and many research projects, sponsored by government agencies are to monitor the general picture of the immigrants and adjust the conditions in the country in such a way that these immigrants (descendants) feel themselves at home and integrate most to the society. A good many of those papers are very well prepared, analyzes the current situation and discuss how the conditions should be for a brilliant future of the Netherlands. Yet, those reports sometimes fail to address the obstacles towards that happy end and have shortcomings in describing how to overcome the existing difficulties. Nermin Aydemir (JTW)