Snijders, Jacqueline

As Europe’s population ages, the number of adults needing long-term care is increasing. There are, however, persistent labour shortages in the health and social care sector; well-qualified staff are particularly lacking. At a time when unemployment across much of Europe is high, this study considers how this pool of surplus labour might be used to solve the care sector’s labour shortage, and how people might be encouraged to work long term in a sector that has consistently high levels of staff turnover. The study examines a total of 30 case studies across 10 EU Member States, analysing initiatives that were successful in either creating more jobs in the sector, or improving the quality of its jobs, with the dual aim of attracting new recruits and retaining existing staff.

This country report gives an overview of the labour market policy in community-based care for adults with disabilities in the Netherlands. The main topics discussed are the context in which community care labour market instruments are implemented, the funding structure, the strategies used to recruit new employees and retain current workers in the sector and the resulting impacts and outcomes. Three case studies (see Annex 1) were carried out into initiatives in the field of labour market policies in community-based care to support adults with disabilities: Neighbourhood Training Company, Visible Link and Netherlands Neighbourhood Care.