Between too much and too little

Many secondary and higher education programmes in the Netherlands are focused on training people for jobs in the public services sector. The rising participation in higher education has led to a considerable increase in the number of graduates from such programmes. The question then is how many of this increased number have been absorbed into the labour market. Has a surplus arisen of people with qualifications for jobs in public services, as predicted in the past? Are they ending up to a greater extent than in the past in sectors other than that for which they have qualified? How well does the level of their education programme match the level of the jobs they obtain?

This study explores the quantitative and qualitative match between education and employment in the public services sector. Comparison between the public and private sectors is an important part of this. The following issues are addressed:

• the labour market participation and labour market destination of people graduating from vocational courses for the public services sector;
• characteristics of jobs and employees in the public services sector;
• surpluses and shortages of public services sector graduates;
• the match between the level of education programmes and job levels;
• the income of people with qualifications for the public services sector;
• the perceived quality of the work in the public services sector;
• the interest in public service sector training programmes and the background to the choice of these programmes.