Employers hire more minorities

20 June 2007

THE HAGUE – Employers have more people of ethnic background on staff these days than in the past. Six in ten businesses employ at least one person of Turkish, Moroccan, Antillean or Surinamese background, compared to only 53 percent last year.

This emerged on Wednesday from a survey commissioned by the Forum institute for multicultural development and the National Network for Diversity Management (DIV). The Motivaction bureau carried out the survey among 418 employers, all of whom employ between 20 and 500 workers.

Forum and DIV concluded that the hiring of “new Dutch” went well last year. But these workers are still at a disadvantage compared to their native Dutch counterparts.

Unemployment among minorities is more than three times higher than unemployment among native Dutch. This is not only due to poorer language skills and educational background, but also to discrimination.

About half of the employers say they want to hire workers of ethnic background, that is less than the 68 percent who reported they were willing to do so last year.

Subject: Dutch news