Vocational diploma quickest way to a job

In 2001, 170 thousand pupils and students left full-time education. In the period 1999-2001, it took these school-leavers five months on average to find a regular job. Those with a vocational diploma in particular needed less time to find work.

Period before school-leavers find a job, 1999-2001

Shortest school-to-job period for pre-vocational training

School-leavers with a pre-vocational diploma (vmbo; first stage secondary education) needed the least time to find work: four and a half months. For students graduating from vocational college (hbo; tertiary education) this was on average five months. This makes school-leavers with vocational diploma’s most successful on the labour market. University graduates needed most time to find a job.

Relatively long period for technical pre-vocational disciplines

Young people leaving school with an economics-related pre-vocational diploma needed less than four months on average to find a job, while it took their peers with a pre-vocational diploma in a technical discipline six months. The relatively long period needed to find a job for technicians at this level may be caused by the increasing demand for technicians with higher skills, making it more difficult for those with basic vocational technical skills to find a job.

Period before pre-vocational school-leavers find a job, by discipline, 1999-2001

Graduates with senior technical training need less time

Among school-leavers with a diploma in senior vocational training (mbo) or other second-stage secondary education (havo or vwo) there are large differences in the period needed to find a job. School-leavers with a technical diploma at this level found jobs the soonest: within four months on average. School-leavers qualified in the nursing and care disciplines needed just over five months, those with diploma’s from second-stage general secondary education (havo/vwo) needed more than six months.

Period before second-stage secondary school-leavers find a job, by discipline, 1999-2001

Higher education: little difference between disciplines

Graduates from vocational colleges (hbo; tertiary level education) needed an average five months to find a job, university graduates five and a half months. For both these groups of graduates there were few differences between the disciplines in the period before finding work. Only graduates with a university degree in one of the technical disciplines got a job relatively quickly: after four and a half months on average.

Tanja Traag