04 August 2020
Age, sex and racial discrimination remain a major issue in the Dutch labour market, according to a survey of 2,100 people by Intermediair magazine and the jobs bank Nationale Vacaturebank published in RTLNieuws. As many as 55% of employees reported being discriminated against during the hiring process with the figure rising to 85% among unemployed respondents. Meanwhile, 29% of employees think that applying anonymously can help with diversity (34% of unemployed felt this way) and think that it should even become mandatory. However, 16% of employers were in favour of making this a mandatory requirement and 30% of employers think that this measure will make the application process fairer. The researchers also asked respondents if they were judged on other matters than on work experience, training and competences and found that questions about pregnancy and skin colour came up regularly. The data also showed that 53% have experienced discrimination due to their age and 27% said they were discriminated against due to their ethnicity. The survey showed that while 73% of the unemployed and 57% of salaried employees see discrimination as a problem, only 43% of employers felt this way.
