‘The job market still needs more migrant workers’

Unemployment is now on the rise but in the long term Europe still faces a shortage of workers. 'In a few years time we're going to need 750,000 workers.'

If European countries do not allow enough migrant workers in in the next few years, the European job market is going to face a serious shortage, the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis predicted this week.

It is hard to imagine at a time when unemployment is on the rise because of the economic crisis. But by 2030 the Netherlands and the rest of Europe will face a shortage of workers if the gates of Europe remain closed. "That will result in higher wages for unskilled labour but also to higher prices. The countries of origin will suffer too because they will be getting less remittances," the report says.

Bert Bakker, a former member of parliament for the left-wing liberal party D66, is now the president of the Association of International Employment Agencies (VIA), which groups 35 temporary employment agencies. Every year they mediate for more than 50,000 foreign workers. "Every politician who is now trying to be anti-European, is denying the future of the international labour market," Bakker says.

What is the best strategy to anticipate a shortage in the future?

"We have to start by recognising that there will be a shortage. The Netherlands is navel-gazing. Th government is looking for national solution to national problems: raising the pension age, getting the unemployed back to work. This is necessary, but it is not enough in the long term. We need to look beyond our borders. In a few years time we're going to need 750,000 workers, from inside and outside the European union, from field workers to engineers."

But people are afraid of losing their jobs. Isn't it logical that the government would want to address these concerns first?

"I understand the reticence, the idea that migrant workers are going to 'steal' our jobs. But there is no question of that. There are simply not enough Dutch people for certain jobs. The other day I visited a meat processing factory, and out of 400 employees only five were Dutch - the managers. A company like that cannot function without Polish workers who are willing and capable of doing the work. Dutch people quite simply don't want to do the work. So the argument that East-European workers are stealing our jobs just doesn't cut it. We need to face that there are certain part of our economy that cannot function without migrant workers - even in the middle of a crisis."

The Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis is proposing to allow migrant workers in on a temporary and selective basis to relieve the pressure on the job market. Is this a good idea?

"Yes, it is a good way to attract skilled as well as unskilled labour. The last thing we need is to allow an uncontrolled stream of migrant workers into the country. But this would have to be applied to any sector where there is a shortage, whether it is welders or health workers or dentists. And it is difficult to predict which sectors will face shortages."

Last week it came out that Romanian workers - EU citizens- were being exploited at an asparagus farm in the Netherlands.

"It is outrageous that such exploitation can still happen. The current system of work permits for Romanian and Bulgarian workers makes them completely dependent on the employer. He has to apply for the work permit, and often makes the most absurd demands of the workers. Recently I visited a company that was charging its foreign workers 100 euros per month in administrative fees just for getting them a social security number - something that is taken care of with one phone call. I think the job market should be simply opened up to these people, or the work permit system needs to be simplified so that we can still control who comes in but people can decided for themselves where they choose to work."