OECD SKILLS STRATEGY DIAGNOSTIC REPORT: NETHERLANDS

20 April 2017, Amsterdam

Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills, OECD

A collaborative project

Directorate for Education and Skills

Economics Department

Directorate for Employment, Labour

and Social Affairs

Directorate for Science, Technology

and Innovation

Centre for Tax Policy and Administration

Directorate for Public Governance and

Territorial Development

Local Economic and Employment Development

OECDTHE NETHERLANDS

Ministry of Finance

Ministry of Economic Affairs

Ministry of Education, Culture

and Science

Ministry of Social Affairs and

Employment

Social and Economic Council

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Drawing upon the insights of stakeholders

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Identifying nine skills challenges for the Netherlands

9 Skills Challenges for the Netherlands

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And three priority areas for action

• Fostering more equitable skills outcomes

Priority 1

• Creating skills-intensive workplacesPriority 2

• Promoting a learning culturePriority 3

CONTEXT: SKILLS TO THRIVE IN AN INCREASINGLY

INTERCONNECTED AND RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD

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The kind of things that are easy to teach are

now easy to automate, digitize or outsource

Robotics

>1m miles,

one minor accident,

occasional human intervention

Augmented Reality

A lot more to come

• 3D printing

• Synthetic biology

• Brain enhancements

• Nanomaterials

• Etc.

The Race between Technology and Education

Inspired by “The race between technology and education” Pr. Goldin & Katz (Harvard)

Industrial revolution

Digital revolution

Universal public schooling

Technology

Education

Prosperity

Social pain

ProsperityDemocratizing

Concentrating

Particularizing

Homogenizing

Empowering

Disempowering

1m $ / employee

120 k$ / employee

Scale without mass

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Changing demand for skills in the NetherlandsAverage annual change in total employment in the Netherlands by occupation

categories requiring different tasks, thousand employed persons

1. Refers to population aged between 15 and 64. Abstract tasks refer to problem-solving, intuition, persuasion and creativity.

Occupations attached to abstract tasks include managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals. Routine manual tasks refer to well-understood procedures such as book-keeping, clerical and

administrative work, repetitive production or monitoring. Occupations attached to routine tasks include clerical support workers, craft and related trades workers and plant and machine operators and assemblers. Although

plant and machine operators and assemblers also include occupations such as drivers that should be classified as non-routine manual occupations, it is classified under routine manual occupations due to lack of data at

2-digit levels. Non-routine manual tasks refer to those requiring adaptability, visual and language recognition, and personal interactions. Occupations attached to non-routine tasks include service and sales workers.

Occupations such as skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers, elementary occupations, armed forces occupations and those with no responses are not included. There is a structural break in the data due to change

in classification in 2010/11. ISCO 08 classification 1-digit level.

Source: OECD calculations based on Eurostat (2016), Labour Force Survey database - detailed annual survey results (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database).

Globalisation and technological change are altering the skills needed for success in the economy and society

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Higher levels of skills will be increasingly important

Employment trends in the Netherlands

by typical education requirements of occupations, historical and projectedShares of employment growth

Note: Education level requirements have been estimated using the International Standard Classification of Education 1997 (ISCED97).

Source: OECD calculations based on CEDEFOP (2017), EU-CEDEFOP database: Employment trends, http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/publications-and-resources/data-

visualisations/employment-trends.

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Population ageing means the Netherlands cannot afford to waste its talent

The population in the Netherlands is ageing more rapidly than in most

other OECD countriesPopulation aged 65 and over relative to population aged 15-64

Note: Population projections start in 2015.

Source: OECD calculations based on data from the UN (2017), World Population Prospects, the 2015 revision,

https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Download/Standard/ASCII/ (accessed March 2017).

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050 2055 2060

%Netherlands OECD EU Countries

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Skills are critical for social participation and inclusion

Literacy proficiency/education and positive social outcomesAdjusted and unadjusted difference between the percentage of adults with high proficiency/tertiary and the percentage

of adults with low proficiency/below upper secondary who reported high levels of trust and political efficacy, good to

excellent health, or participating in volunteer activities, being employed or earning higher wages

How to read this chart: Higher proficiency in literacy is associated with a greater likelihood of engaging in voluntary work. On average, chances of participating in volunteer activities are 22

percentage points higher among people who scored 4 or 5 then among those who scored at or below level 1 in literacy.

Notes: Statistically significant differences are marked in a darker tone. Adjusted differences are based on a regression model and take account of differences associated with the following variables:

age, gender, education, immigrant and language background and parents' educational attainment. Higher wage is defined as worker's hourly earnings that are above country's median.

Source: OECD calculations based on OECD (2017), OECD Survey of Adult Skills database (PIAAC) (2012, 2015), OECD, Paris, www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/ (accessed March 2017).

FOSTERING MORE EQUITABLE SKILLS

OUTCOMES

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Most Dutch adults develop strong skills

Mean literacy score of adults by educational attainment, 25-65 year-olds

Source: OECD calculations based on OECD (2017), Survey of Adult Skills database (PIAAC) (2012, 2015), www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/

(accessed March 2017).

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But some groups are underperforming

Skills (literacy) by socio-demographic groups

Source: OECD (2013), OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills in OECD Economic Surveys: Netherlands 2016, OECD Publishing,

Paris, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eco_surveys-nld-2016-en.

over 1.7 million adults in the Netherlands have low levels of

foundational skills (i.e. Level 1 or below in literacy, numeracy or both)

35% of low skilled adults are between the

ages of 55 and 64 and are close to

retirement

But some 65% of low skilled adults are of

prime working age (16 to 54 year-olds).

This includes a large group of 45 to 54

year-olds (25%), many of whom will

continue to be part of the Dutch labour

force during the next two decades.

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Too many adults lack the skills needed to adapt to economic change

16-2410%

25-3413%

35-4417%

44-5425%

55-6435%

Low-skilled adults by age

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The skills performance of Dutch students is worsening (I)

Source: OECD (2016a), PISA 2015 Results (Volume I): Excellence and Equity in Education,

PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264266490-en.

Performance of Dutch students in PISA 2003-2015

Mean scores in mathematics, science and reading

490

500

510

520

530

540

550

2003 2006 2009 2012 2015

PIS

A 2

015 s

co

re

Mathematics Science Reading

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The skills performance of Dutch students is worsening (II)

Source: OECD (2016a), PISA 2015 Results (Volume I): Excellence and Equity in Education, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264266490-en.

Percentage of low-performers in the Netherlands, PISA 2003-2015

Percentage of students performing below level 2 in mathematics, science and reading

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

2003 2006 2009 2012 2015

%Mathematics Science Reading

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Growing use of flexible contracts may decrease incentives to develop and make full use of skills

Share of temporary workers and self-employed, 2005 and 2015

Sources: OECD calculations based on OECD (2017) Labour Force Statistics Database, http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=TEMP_D, and OECD (2017), "Self-employment

rate" (indicator), OECD, Paris, http//dx.doi.org/10.1787/fb58715e-en (Accessed on 19 January 2017)

Government should carefully monitor whether its policies are having the desired effect of providing individuals with a balanced portfolio of skills

Government should replace the existing tax deduction for adult skills development with a refundable credit/vouchers to make financing more accessible to those with low

income and skills

The private sector and government should encourage the formation of social enterprises that help vulnerable groups to develop their skills and find employment

Government, employers and other stakeholders should work together to simplify the system for the validation of priority learning to make it more easily navigable to those

most in need

Government, employers, and trade unions should engage better with vulnerable groups to ensure that their voices are heard in the policy development process

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Fostering more equitable skills outcomes: A selection of recommendations

CREATING SKILLS-INTENSIVE WORKPLACES

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Smaller firms are less likely to invest in the skills of workers

0

20

40

60

80

100

%Large Small-Medium Micro

Percentage of employed people receiving on-the-job-training,

by firm size

Notes: Micro firms employ 1-10 workers, small and medium-sized firms employ 11-250 workers, and large firms employ more than 250

workers. Figures refer to the market sector and exclude agriculture, constructions and finance, because of data availability issues.

Source: OECD (2015), OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2015: Innovation for growth and society, Figure 1.29, OECD

Publishing, Paris, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/sti_scoreboard-2015-en.

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Investment in training for low skilled workers could be increased

Percentage of employees receiving employer financial support for

education or training, by skill level, 25 to 64 year-olds

Note: The participation gap is calculated as the participation rate of high-skilled adults (literacy or numeracy at level 5 or above) minus the participation rate of

low-skilled adults (literacy or numeracy below level 2), in percentage points. The OECD average includes only OECD countries in PIAAC.

Source: OECD calculations based on OECD (2017), OECD Survey of Adult Skills database (PIAAC) (2012, 2015), OECD, Paris, www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/

(accessed March 2017).

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Dutch firms could make more intensive use of the skills of their workers

Numeracy use at work and numeracy proficiency of working population

Note: For reading, writing, numeracy and ICT skills, skills use indicators are scales between 1 "Never" and 5 "Every day". Problem-solving skills use refers to respondents'' answers to “How often

are you usually confronted with more complex problems that take at least 30 minutes to find a good solution?”. The set of possible answers also ranges between 1 "Never" and 5 "Every day".

Proficiency scores range from 0 to 500.

Source: OECD (2016b), Skills Matter: Further Results from the Survey of Adult Skills, Fig. 4.4, OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264258051-en

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Small- and medium-sized firms, in particular, could make greater use their workers’ skills

Use of information-processing skills at work in the Netherlands, by firm size

Source: OECD calculations based on OECD (2017), OECD Survey of Adult Skills database (PIAAC) (2012, 2015), OECD, Paris,

www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/ (accessed March 2017).

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High performance workplace practices (HPWP) can boost skills use

The contribution of factors to the variance of skills use at workShare of the variance in skills use explained by each factor

Source: OECD (2016) OECD Employment Outlook 2016

Organisational practices such as:

• teamwork,

• autonomy,

• task discretion,

• mentoring, and

• job rotation

Management practices such as:

• use of incentive pay,

• training practices, and

• flexibility in working hours

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Overall, Dutch firms make good use of HPWP

High-Performance Work Practices (HPWP), organisation and management factors

Share of jobs with high HPWP and mean HPWP score

Notes:

a) Share of workers in jobs where the summary HPWP is above the top 25th percentile of the pooled distribution.

b) Average value, across jobs, of the HPWP index. The HPWP index is a sum scale of all subcomponents shown in Panel I or summing the scales of the work organisation subcomponents only (Panel II).

Source: OECD (2016a), OECD Employment Outlook 2016, OECD Publishing, Paris, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/empl_outlook-2016-en.

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Small and medium-sized firms would benefit fromthe increased adoption of HPWP

2.60

2.65

2.70

2.75

2.80

2.85

2.90

2.95

1-10employees

11-50employees

51-250employees

251+employees

The Netherlands

2.60

2.65

2.70

2.75

2.80

2.85

2.90

2.95

1-10employees

11-50employees

51-250employees

251+employees

OECD-PIAAC countries

HPWP - all factors HPWP - work organisation factors only

High-performance work practice by firm size in the Netherlands and

OECD-PIAAC countries

Average HPWP score by firm size and industry

Source: OECD calculations based on OECD (2017), OECD Survey of Adult Skills database (PIAAC) (2012,

2015), OECD, Paris, www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/ (accessed March 2017).

Employers and trade unions should work together to collect and disseminate information on the business case for investing in workers’ skills, as well as on

good training practices

Employer and sector associations should establish knowledge brokerage services to collect and share information on good practices for improving the use of

workers’ skills

The SER and/or employer associations could publically recognise top employers, such as those that invest in developing workers’ skills and improving the design

and organisation of workplaces to make better use of their skills

Government and employers should improve the financial incentives for firms and individuals to invest in their skills development

Employers should make greater efforts to recognise skills developed informally by their workers

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Creating skills intensive workplaces: A selection of recommendations

PROMOTING A LEARNING CULTURE

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Participation in adult formal and non-formal learning in the Netherlands is strong overall

Participation in formal and non-formal education and training, 25 to 65 year-olds

Source: OECD calculations based on OECD (2017), OECD Survey of Adult Skills database

(PIAAC) (2012, 2015), OECD, Paris, www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/ (accessed March 2017).

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But low-skilled adults are much less likely to participate in formal and non-formal learning

Participation gap in formal and non-formal learning for job-related reasons, Percentage of high-skilled and low-skilled adults

Source: OECD calculations based on OECD (2017), OECD Survey of Adult Skills database (PIAAC) (2012, 2015), OECD, Paris,

www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/ (accessed March 2017).

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And Dutch workers are not as actively involved in informal learning as their peers

Percentage of workers who engage in informal learning

Source: OECD calculations based on OECD (2017), OECD Survey of Adult Skills database (PIAAC) (2012,

2015), OECD, Paris, www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/ (accessed March 2017).

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A large share of Dutch adults report that they are not “ready to learn”

Readiness to learn, PIAAC 2012, 2015

Percentage of adults answering using the learning strategy very little or not at all

Source: OECD calculations based on OECD (2017), OECD Survey of Adult Skills database

(PIAAC) (2012, 2015), OECD, Paris, www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/ (accessed March 2017).

0

5

10

15

20

25

30 Relate new ideas into real life

Like learning new things

Attribute something new

Get to the bottom of difficultthings

Figure out how different ideasfit together

Looking for additional info

Netherlands OECD Average United States

Social partners should reform sectoral training funds to cover a wider variety of sectors, better facilitate worker transitions, and encourage greater investment in

general as well as job-specific skills

Government, with the support of social partners, could encourage greater investment in skills development in adulthood by introducing vouchers or adult

learning accounts

Government and/or other information providers should create a unique platform that brings together all skills and learning information in one place for users with different

needs (e.g. students, jobseekers, and employers)

Government should ensure that VET and tertiary education institutions have incentives to make greater use of systems for the validation of prior learning

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Promoting a learning culture: A selection of recommendations

MOVING TO ACTION

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A “national skills pact” could serve as an effective foundation on

which to build a Skills Strategy for the Netherlands.

The “pact" should:

Be guided by a shared vision that is made concrete in a national

Skills Strategy for the Netherlands.

Specify the concrete actions that each partner needs to take –

including who is responsible for paying for different elements.

Establish performance measures for each partner.

Set out clear public reporting requirements for all partners.

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A National Skills Pact?

To discuss OECD’s work with countries on National Skills Strategy projects contact:

andreas.schleicher@oecd.org

joanne.caddy@oecd.org

andrew.bell@oecd.org

To learn more about the OECD’s work on skills visit: www.oecd.org/skills/

For more information

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