Last Monday, 1 March, in cooperation with D66, we organised a panel on the present and future of the labour market. Topics such as coronavirus measures and their impact on the labour market were discussed.
Our chairman, Ahmet Taskan, kicked off the panel, after which Ameline Ansu moderated it. The following speakers took part in the panel: Wouter Koolmees (Minister of Social Affairs and Employment), Joan Nunnely (Candidate for the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer), D66), Reinier van Dantzig (D66 Amsterdam parliamentary group leader), Marjolein ten Hoonte (Director of Labour Market and CSR, Randstad) and Petra van de Goorbergh (Director, OVAL).
In this article we outline the key points of the panel. If you would like to watch the footage again, you can do so via the video at the bottom of the page.
Coronavirus pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic came from an unexpected direction, and yet the government managed to respond to it quickly, according to the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment. The labour market currently consists of about 7 million people, of whom 4 million have to be present on location to do their work and 3 million can carry out their work from home.
According to Minister Wouter Koolmees, young people have been hit hardest, because they often have flexible contracts. In addition, many young people are having more difficulty than usual finding a work placement. Many companies have also lost employees to other sectors, because in the current period they can deploy few people.
Future
Many people are wary of innovation and technology because they fear losing their jobs. According to Minister Wouter Koolmees, we need not worry much about this, because the past has shown us that when professions cease to exist, new professions always emerge. For this reason, the government must also develop programmes to motivate people to retrain.
We would like to thank D66 and all the speakers for this instructive meeting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKi2btxiK9Y&feature=youtu.be
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The largest cross-cultural and multisectoral business association in the Netherlands.
