oa Arbeidsgehandicapten en de Participatiewet

Incapacitated workers and the Labour Participation Law

In this new rubric, the editorial board of Journal of Labour Issues has asked informed researchers whether the new Dutch Labour Participation Law that is operative since the beginning of 2015 improves the labour market position of incapacitated workers. The main goal of this new law is to place a larger number of incapacitated workers in regular instead of state-subsidized work places. The researchers hesitate to answer the question in the affirmative. Their main argument is that the willingness of regular employers to hire incapacitated workers in the Netherlands is low, and that active labour market policies are necessary to improve the labour market position of incapacitated workers. The new law might renew the interest of regular employers in this category of workers, but may also curb the further development of new and promising instruments to create sheltered work places, such as group secondment and supported employment.