"Scholing en Baanmobiliteit"

Our research shows that formal education, i.e. a diploma from a publicly funded educational institution after the age of 30, is associated with labour market mobility and an improvement in labour market position in terms of wages and the likelihood of a permanent contract. It appears that the likelihood of changing jobs is greater among people who have completed a formal education programme than among the rest. Often, the job change takes place before the diploma is obtained, which points to dual/part-time/BBL-programmes in which formal learning is combined with working (and earning money). This certainly applies to studies in education sectors that prepare for a shortage occupation in Technology and ICT, Healthcare, and Education. A combination of learning and working (earning money) is therefore often preferred in formal education and may be a prerequisite for retraining and further education. 

Non-formal (work-related course participation) and informal learning (learning by performing tasks) play an important role in the labour market. Almost six in ten workers between the ages of 25 and 55 have taken a work-related course in the past two years. Four out of five courses are fully funded by the employer. Only 2 percent of courses make use of a subsidy provider. On average, workers between the ages of 25 and 55 spent 24 percent of their working time on tasks from which they could learn (informal training) in the measurement year 2024. This includes asking others for information, talking to others about (work) experiences, and thinking in advance about what one would do. The correlation between these forms of training and job and occupational mobility is not clear-cut; it appears that training is also important for remaining employable if you are not mobile. This is due, among other things, to technological developments. It does appear that among mobile workers, the likelihood of participating in non-formal and informal training is greater if the skill gaps between two occupations are larger. 

We also find a strong link between education in general and occupational mobility. Based on the skill gap between occupations calculated using the Dutch Skills Survey, it appears that mobility between occupations decreases as the differences in skills between occupations increase. This indicates that mobility between occupations with a greater skill gap can only take place if training is followed to bridge this gap. Not only differences in skills play a role in occupational changes, but also employment conditions such as differences in wages and working hours. 

Workers in occupations with a high skill gap to other occupations where we do observe a high degree of occupational mobility undergo relatively more training and also spend relatively more time on informal learning. In addition, although the skill gap for these occupations is relatively large, it appears that many of these occupations do not require a specific educational background. It is precisely in those occupations where professional knowledge acquired through formal learning is important that we see relatively little occupational mobility. 

LLL policy focused on formal education seems particularly useful for those professions where (relatively) little occupational mobility is observed but where mobility is desirable, for example, to resolve bottlenecks in the labour market. This mainly concerns professions where specific professional knowledge from formal education is necessary to practise a profession, such as in healthcare, education, and technology. However, formal education is already provided for these programmes. Training to become a care worker (MBO3), nurse and medical assistant (MBO4), primary school teacher (bachelor's degree), electrical engineer (bachelor's degree), lawyer (bachelor's degree) and legal scholar (master's degree) are among the most common studies followed for formal (re)training. Due to a lack of administrative data on professions, we have not been able to determine whether formal students of these programmes actually switch to these bottleneck professions. However, given the specific nature of these programmes, it is plausible that formal training facilitates the transition to these bottleneck professions. The current LLL policy therefore already plays a role here, but evaluation of (the effectiveness of) these existing policies is beyond the scope of this study.

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Bakens, J., Cobben, L., Künn-Nelen, A., & Lansink, X. (2025). Scholing en Baanmobiliteit. ROA Reports No. 006