Preventing early school leaving and youth unemployment in the Rijnmond Region

Young people who leave education without a starting qualification (a diploma at at least havo, vwo or mbo level 2) have a considerably higher chance of long-term unemployment than their peers with such a diploma. The Rijnmond region is therefore actively working on reducing early school leaving and promoting youth employment. Ecorys supported the region with monitoring and social cost-benefit analyses (SCBAs) to gain insight into the most effective measures.

Background

Young people without a basic qualification have structurally fewer opportunities in the labour market. Research shows that they are at increased risk of long-term unemployment, are more often dependent on social services, need more care and are more likely to be involved in crime.

To break this negative spiral, the Early School Leaving (ESL) and Youth Employment (JWG) programme was set up. This is a collaboration between the ministries of OCW (Education, Culture and Science) and SZW (Social Affairs and Employment), together with municipalities, educational institutions and regional labour market regions. They work on initiatives that guide young people from school to work, with a special focus on vulnerable young people without a starting qualification – also known as ESL students.

Since 2025, this programme has been broadened. Whereas previously it focused exclusively on preventing school dropout, it now also focuses on increasing youth employment. New is the focus on so-called NEET youth: young people under 27 who are not in education, do not have a start qualification and are unemployed (Not in Education, Employment or Training).

Our services
Ecorys supports Rijnmond Region in implementing its ESL and youth employment policy by providing monitoring advice and multiple social cost-benefit analyses (SCBAs).

A SCBA provides insight into the benefits of an intervention by systematically comparing costs and benefits. Ecorys uses this method to determine which measures are effective, which target groups they reach and what the social returns are. The results lead to concrete recommendations to prevent early school leaving and better support young people without jobs or education, within the financial frameworks of the programme.

Besides carrying out SCBAs, Ecorys also assists the region in the distribution of resources between involved parties such as educational institutions, municipalities and transfer points. In addition, Ecorys supported the Programme Team in monitoring the progress of the Programme and measuring the effectiveness of the interventions in the interim. For this purpose, a calculation tool is set up that allows professionals themselves to record the effectiveness of their interventions. In this way, programme management becomes more transparent and regions and partners can better account for how resources contribute to achieving policy goals.

Key findings

Our first SCBA focused on the intervention Classroom as a Workshop within secondary vocational schools in the region. This intervention provides direct support to young people in the classroom, focusing on the personal connection between the professional and student. This ensures better identification and lowers the threshold for help, allowing students to get the support they need. The personal relationship also helps students ask for help more easily, contributing to their mental well-being and a positive classroom atmosphere.

The SCBA shows that Class as a Workshop contributes to fewer dropouts. More young people obtain a starting qualification and enter the labour market with better opportunities. The benefits are considerable and spread over various parties, such as the student himself, the municipality(s), mental health care, police and society as a whole. However, the intervention does prove less effective in classes with little or no support needs. We therefore recommend that the intervention be deployed mainly in classes where there is a large, hidden support need.

We thank the educational institutions involved for their cooperation in the study: Zadkine, Albeda, STC, GLR, HMC, Lentiz and Yuverta.

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