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Next year, Amsterdam will motivate people to work by adding a little extra, Source: Unsplash

Amsterdam will reward those who get a job…with money

Amsterdam will reward those who get a job…with money

The experiment aims to encourage people to get off welfare and join the labour market

Yesterday, the City of Amsterdam announced that next year it will implement a new experiment that will boost the willingness of unemployed people to get a job. The local authorities, in fact, plan to offer a financial bonus to those people who find a long-term job.

The argument behind the experiment goes that the officials would want to further boost the vibrancy of the labour market and lighten the burden on the social welfare system. The experiment will supposedly take off somewhere in the middle of next year, however, details are still forthcoming.

Paying you to find employment

The number of Amsterdammers using social assistance has fallen from 40,281 at the beginning of 2019 to 35,686 in December 2022. However, the authorities want to see those numbers go down even more.

We are dealing with a very tight labour market and yet too many people are still on the sidelines. The social security of many Amsterdammers is under pressure as a result. We want to remove the barriers to work as much as possible, which is why we will continue to invest in guiding people to work in the coming years,” explained Rutger Groot Wassink, Alderman for Social Affairs.

The intention is that this premium will help prevent a drop in social assistance benefits by keeping people’s skills current and motivating them to contribute to the economy and their own development. A financial reward can also ensure that people opt for work in a sector where there are shortages, such as the tech sector.

The local government is also investing extra in job centres, the Regional Work Center and a targeted approach for specific groups on social assistance. Extra funds are set to go into retraining and further training, plus there will be more time for personal career guidance.

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