UWV may experiment with job application requirements for unemployment benefits workers | Economy

Anyone receiving unemployment benefits is now required to undertake four application activities every four weeks. They can write an application letter, have an interview or follow a training course. Whether this really helps people find work faster is a matter of discussion. Little research has been done into this.

Outgoing Minister Karien van Gennip (Social Affairs and Employment) will give the UWV legal scope to deviate from the job application obligation over the next four years, so that the agency can also try out other forms in practice. “With this experiment we can test what really works,” says the minister. “In this way we provide a basis for effective policy to help unemployed workers return to work.”

The intention is that more than 100,000 unemployment benefit recipients will participate in the experiment. For some of them, the job application obligation will continue to apply as it is now. A second group is allowed to look for work on their own, without mandatory applications and enforcement. And individual agreements are made with a third group.