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Dutch 'no dead ends' education model yields lowest youth Neet rates in Europe

Illustration accompanying article: Dutch 'no dead ends' education model yields lowest youth Neet rates in Europe
  • The Netherlands has one of the world's lowest Neet rates for 18- to 24-year-olds at 4.9%, compared with 15.1% in the UK, according to a report by former UK Health Secretary Alan Milburn published last month.
  • Dutch law requires young people to stay in education or training until they either obtain a qualification or turn 18 — a policy known as the kwalificatieplicht (qualification requirement).
  • At around age 12, Dutch pupils are streamed into one of three secondary tracks based on teacher recommendations and test results — a system some critics say can harm self-esteem and disadvantage certain children.
  • The Dutch education system funds a layered safety net: schools receive budgets for health and wellbeing, which they use to contract specialist organisations such as the Mooi Jong Academy to intervene before students disengage.
  • Students aged 16 and older can enter the beroepsbegeleidende leerweg (vocational training pathway), combining part-time employment with classroom study, and businesses can request customised college programmes.
  • Despite the system's success, youth unemployment is rising in the Netherlands, and the government is responding by easing access to benefits through the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV).
 5 MIN READ

U.S. adds 172,000 jobs in May; broader underemployment holds at 8.2%

Illustration accompanying article: U.S. adds 172,000 jobs in May; broader underemployment holds at 8.2%
  • The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that U.S. employers added 172,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in May, with leisure and hospitality alone contributing 70,000 positions, more than four times its 2025–2026 monthly average.
  • The broader U-6 unemployment rate, which includes discouraged workers and those working part‑time for economic reasons, held at 8.2 percent in May, while the headline U-3 rate remained at 4.3 percent for a third straight month.
  • The JOLTS quits rate stood at 2.2 percent in April, a metric the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta interprets as signaling that workers still have limited confidence in their ability to find better‑paying jobs.
  • The Atlanta Fed’s Wage Growth Tracker measured median year‑over‑year wage growth at 3.6 percent in April, using a composition‑controlled matched‑individual method that avoids the distortions of the BLS average‑hourly‑earnings series.
 4 MIN READ
Illustration accompanying article: CBO projects Fed rate cuts in 2026 as Treasury yields, mortgage costs set