UNEMPLOYMENT INCREASING AMONG DUTCH MUSLIMS

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000141

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/UBI

USDOC FOR 4212/USFCS/MAC/EUR/OWE/CALVERT

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON SOCI PHUM PGOV ELAB KISL NL
SUBJECT: UNEMPLOYMENT INCREASING AMONG DUTCH MUSLIMS

REF: THE HAGUE 02993


1. (U) SUMMARY. Unemployment among the almost 700,000 ethnic
Turks and Moroccans in the Netherlands is high and rising.
While the overall unemployment level in the country
stabilized last year at 6.5 percent, survey data presented
this week show that unemployment among the Turkish and
Moroccan immigrant groups has increased dramatically,
especially among youth. Senior government officials
responsible for this issue do not see these numbers as a
challenge to existing policy. However, parliament is
showing increased support for integration policies focused
on immigrant entry into the job market. END SUMMARY


2. (U) The Dutch growth miracle of the late 1990s brought
unemployment among the large groups of ethnic minorities in
the Netherlands down from over 30 percent in 1995 to below
10 percent in 2002. With a large share of non-western
immigrants working on temporary contracts, however, the
economic downturn of the last three years has wiped out
these gains almost completely. Data released this week by
the GONL's Social and Cultural Planning Office (SCP) show a
dramatic increase of unemployment among Turks to 21 percent
in the first half of 2005, after it appeared to have
stabilized at 14 percent in 2004. Unemployment among
Moroccans is on a consistently upward trend, with the latest
SCP data placing it at 27 percent.


3. (U) Turkish and Moroccan youths have been hit especially
hard, with unemployment among these groups increasing from
24 percent in 2004 to 39 percent in the first half of 2005.
The chance of being unemployed is now higher for ethnic
Turks and Moroccans born in the Netherlands than it is for
their parents who were the original immigrants. Those
outside the labor market are finding it increasingly hard to
break in, which could negatively affect the previous trend
toward an increasing number of educated second generation
Turks and Moroccans succeeded in getting more senior
positions than their parents, who came here as less-educated
guest workers. (See Reftel for previous reporting.)


4. (U) In a debate this week with Labor Secretary van Hoof
and Integration Minister Verdonk, parliament called for
measures to address the excessively high unemployment rate
among immigrant youth. Parliamentarians expressed concern
that high unemployment was a primary factor in the recent
riots in France, arguing that unemployment hurts
integration, and blaming Minister Verdonk for a lack of
ambition in finding solutions to this problem. Van Hoof and
Verdonk stressed that the government already supports a
range of initiatives to counter unemployment among immigrant
youth.

COMMENT - Shift toward employment-focused approach
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5. (U) Given the current slack labor market situation,
employers can pick and choose whom they hire. The
inexperienced and less-educated immigrants are often on the
short end of the stick. Currently, there is no consensus
about which policies are most effective in fighting
unemployment among immigrant youths. A more fundamental
question is which policy is most effective in promoting the
integration of immigrants. In recent years, the government
has shifted the focus of its integration policy from
promoting employment to a more comprehensive effort at
social and cultural integration. When presenting the above
data findings, the SCP urged the GONL to go back to the
employment-focused approach, advice that appears to gaining
support within the parliament.

BLAKEMAN