Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam, the capital and most populous city in the Netherlands, is found in the Dutch province of North Holland and is known as a "Venice of the North" due to its many canals ^[ 1 ] .

The Metropolitan area (MRA) has a population of 2,480,394 people. It represents more than 14% of the entire Dutch population.

In 2019, of the 489,010 15-29 year olds living in the in metropolitan area, 42% lived in the city of Amsterdam. Since 2006, the population has been increasing as a result of better job opportunities in the city of Amsterdam compared to the rest of the MRA, and due to the six universities in its centre. Similar patterns can be seen in the distribution of those with a foreign background. 54% of the citizens in Amsterdam have a migration background compared to 37% in the MRA, both of which are much higher than the national figure of 23%. In particular, 66% of those with migration backgrounds are non-Western, and tend to concentrate in Amsterdam due to more job opportunities. Those with Western backgrounds are more present in the rest of the MRA.

During the economic crisis of 2009-2013, the MRA was able to easily deal with this, and showed a growth of over 2% despite national economic contraction ^[ 2 ] . After the crisis, the MRA was growing faster than the national average, with the city of Amsterdam showing the strongest growth: over 4% between 2014 and 2017, and 3.3% in 2018 ^[ 3 ] .

However, there are still socioeconomic issues in the city. In terms of income inequality, since the end of the 1990s, the gap between the highest and lowest income groups has widened, and both income and wealth inequality are higher in Amsterdam than the rest of the country ^[ 4 ] .

The Dutch governance structure is mostly centralised in terms of policy formation and law-making, and decentralised in terms of policy implementation, particularly regarding labour market, social security and welfare policy. This leaves room for local authorities to tackle socioeconomic inequalities. This is partially due to the recent uptake of a "participation society", where responsibility is put on individuals to take care of their needs, and only rely on the state as a last resort.

The Metropool Regio Amsterdam institutional and governance partnership of the MRA was officially founded at the end of 2007. It is a cooperation of governing bodies of all municipalities and provinces involved with the addition of the Amsterdam Transport Authority (Vervoerregio Amsterdam). These institutions cooperate to coordinate their economic and development policy and pursuing common objectives through municipal and regional agreements. However, while the MRA is a relevant unit regarding economic and urban dynamics, it has no administrative role, and consequently no political or policymaking power.

The Netherlands has one of the OECD’s most decentralised education systems as a result of the constitutional principle of “freedom of education”. It guarantees a high degree of autonomy for schools and parental choice of school, alongside public and private schools receiving equal funding. Schools, who are managed by school boards, are free to choose teaching methods, while central government can set learning objectives, quality standards, and national exams. The Inspectorate of Education monitors school quality and compliance with rules and regulations.

Dutch education is characterised by an early tracking system, where pupils are sorted into different educational pathways at an early stage ^[ 5 ] . At the age of 12, children receive recommendations on the level of secondary education they should go into.

Evidence seems to show that where tracking happens earlier in a child's life - where there is a stark separation between the different curricula, and where permeability between different tracks is low - associations between socioeconomic background and academic achievement tend to be stronger than in societies with a comprehensive school system ^[ 6 ] .

The 2014-2015 reform of tracking has generated additional risks of inequality based on socioeconomic and ethnic background. Research shows that students with higher socioeconomic background are often favoured by their teachers ^{[ 7 ][ 8 ]} . There is also parental pressure from higher socioeconomic families ^[ 9 ] . In addition, parental school choice also heavily influences segregation, which is rising in the Netherlands ^[ 10 ][11] .

Despite this, the Dutch rate of early leavers is low compared to other European countries. Between 2011 and 2020 this number decreased as a result of initiatives aimed to reduce early school leaving. These include guidance to vulnerable youth, reintegration programmes, coaching for young people who drop-out early, and study and career guidance, especially for those transitioning between lower and upper secondary vocational education, where dropout rates are high.

The Covid-19 crisis will have had a large impact on inequalities in the long term due to the fact it reinforced them. Children and youngsters from low-income households have missed many opportunities for development, and the digital divide has sharpened existing disparities. Local initiatives across several cities in the Netherlands have been set up; however, it is unclear to what extent they may help.

Further, although it has been slowly decreasing in secondary education, the educational attainment gap between citizens with a migration background and citizens with a Dutch background is still quite wide for higher education: only 34.6% of 30-34 year olds with a migrant background hold a tertiary diploma against 50.7% among those with a Dutch background ^[ 12 ] .

Clearly, ethnic and socio-economic parental background are crucial, but gender segmentation is also relevant. Dutch girls are on average more educated but struggle with career development. They are overrepresented in higher and upper secondary education ^[ 13 ]  and they show a higher completion rate in higher education: 77% of girls entering a bachelor’s programme completed it within three years after the theoretical duration, compared to 62% of boys ^[ 14 ] . However, they more often end up in part time work, have overall lower earnings than their male counterparts and bear the burden of unpaid work.

Figures on educational inequality in Amsterdam are worse than the average.

This difference may be due to the percentage of the population with a migrant background and low income. A quarter of toddlers and 35% of primary school pupils are at risk of educational disadvantage due to their parents background. Young people from a non-western migration background are more than twice as likely to leave school without a qualification than their Dutch counterparts ^[ 16 ] . School segregation at the neighbourhood level is quite high in Amsterdam, showing a clearly spatialised patter ^[ 17 ] , largely overlapping with residential segregation patterns.

The most important change in recent years has been the shift from a focus on inequality of outcomes to a focus on inequality of opportunities. This new approach has led to the Equal Opportunities Alliance (Gelijke Kansen Alliantie - GKA), a policy initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science ^[ 18 ] . Focus has shifted to providing extra support for young vulnerable children and their parents. Action includes extra early education and care for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, language support for parents, extracurricular programmes, and career advice. Challenges brought about by Covid-19 led to the creation of a new National Education Programme, where €8.5 billion will be invested.

While the GKA focuses mostly on primary and early secondary school, there is also national attention to upper secondary (particularly vocational) and higher education. Negative consequences from early tracking on educational opportunities are being addressed. Bridge programs and combined courses are some of the solutions that have been implemented. Moreover, the transition from vocational education to work is also being addressed.

In accordance with the decentralization principles that govern both social policy implementation and education in the Netherlands, the Gelijke Kansen Alliantie provides overarching objectives, coordination, yearly evaluation and mostly funding, but the implementation of specific initiatives is left to local governments in cooperation with schools and social organizations. Indeed, each municipality develops multi-year Gelijke Kansen Agendas to plan measures and interventions geared to the local situation and problems.

The high level of autonomy of schools in the Dutch education system leaves seemingly little room for local governments to shape a municipal education policy. However, in Amsterdam the Municipality is a very strong actor, capable of mobilizing networks and promoting many initiatives and programmes, in particular thanks to the 2019-2023 Municipal Gelijke Kansen Agenda - the local implementation of the national GKA policy framework.

The Agenda focuses on three main actions:

• The Broad Bridge Class Bonus (De Brede Brugklas Bonus) is a program of “bridge classes” that schools can use to ease the transition from primary to secondary education. This is to alleviate the problems connected to early selection by giving students longer to develop.
• The All-in-one-school (Allesinéénschool), where primary schools and childcare organisations share the same pedagogical-didactic approach ease the transition between pre-school to primary.
• The Amsterdam Family School (Amsterdamse Familie School) in which eight primary schools and one secondary school receive extra resources for extended hours, involving parents in support programmes and to tackle poverty ^[ 19 ] .

Funding for the Municipal Gelijke Kansen Agenda comes both from GKA funding and an increased municipal education budget. Though it is early to asses the impact of this, short-term evaluation shows a large involvement of schools and local organisations in the three main actions, supporting a large number of pupils ^[ 20 ] .

The Amsterdam MBO Agenda is a policy initiative by the municipality that aims to increase cooperation with the local business community in order to address the skill mismatch between Amsterdam MBO graduates and the Amsterdam labour market, and improve the students’ transition from vocational education to work. It focuses on providing students in upper secondary vocational education with additional career guidance and an easier transition to higher educational levels and tracks, as well creating a good support structure to prevent absenteeism and dropout. Moreover, the agenda provides grants for teachers and educational teams, to innovate in education and provide better support to vulnerable students ^[ 21 ] .

Currently, the MRA includes one major airport (Schiphol), several seaports, the financial centre of the Netherlands, the Aalsmeer flower auction (the largest in Europe), and clusters of digital, media and creative companies with a strong international orientation. As such, it is the strongest economic region in the country and it functions as a growth engine for the national economy, with roughly 300.000 businesses and 1.5 million jobs. The strongest economic sectors in the MRA are research and development and consultancy, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services and culture and recreation (including tourism). In particular, the tourism sector is a major source of revenue for the city of Amsterdam.

Despite the period of economic recession, the Netherlands’s unemployment rate has remained relatively low between 2007 and 2012 - among the lowest in the EU. It reached the highest value of 7.4% in 2014 and decreased ever since, reaching the lowest figure of 3.4% in 2019. However, youth unemployment rates have always been higher than the general figure, reaching an all time high of 13.2% in 2013 and then decreasing again to 6.7% in 2019. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the related economic stall, youth unemployment grew again to in the last quarter of 2020.

Over the past decades, the Dutch labour market has become more flexible and the Netherlands now shows shares of non-standard employment, such as part-time work, marginal employment and temporary employment, above-average for the EU ^{[ 22 ][ 23 ][ 24 ]} . Solo self-employed and on-call workers (so called zero-hour contracts) are the categories which increased the most. In 2017 they accounted for 12% and 6% of total employment respectively. These workers are more vulnerable to poverty than workers on permanent contracts, and they enjoy much less social protection, especially in terms of risk of sickness and disability ^[ 25 ] .

Overall, unemployment is higher and wages lower for youth, women, lower-educated people, disabled people, and people with migration backgrounds, particularly those who are from non-western countries, which shows the different obstacles faced by marginalised groups ^[ 26 ] .

The employment rate among non-western immigrants in 2017 was 59.9%, more than 20 percent lower than natives- one of the largest gaps in the EU ^[ 27 ] . It becomes worse for women from non-western backgrounds ^[ 28 ] . For those born in the country, but with a migrant background, labour market outcomes are also unfavourable. Disabled people also struggle in the labour market, in particular disabled youth who are at increased vulnerability to measures such as the 2015 Participation Act (Participatiewet), which blocked disabled people from entering sheltered workplaces, reducing their employment rate ^[ 29 ] .

Despite a perception that the Netherlands is ‘equal’, economic inequalities are on the rise. Since the end of the 1990s, the gap between the top 10% of earners and the bottom 10% has grown, as the top wages rise substantially, but lower wages remain the same ^[ 30 ] .

Another structural feature of the Dutch labour market is the high percentage of part-time workers - 37% in 2017, by far the highest rate in OECD countries. These jobs are mostly made up of women, with nearly 60% of women in the Dutch labour market working part-time. This has a detrimental effect on the gender gap in earnings, pensions, job progression, and unequal divide on unpaid work at home. In the Netherlands, employment inequality plays out at the intersection of intergenerational, educational, gender and ethnic backgrounds. This was only further highlighted through Covid ^[ 31 ] .

Young people are much more exposed to precarious work than the general working population. In 2016, 65% of young workers between 15 and 25 years old and 25% of those between 25 and 34 had a temporary or flexible contract (often a zero-hour contract). Unemployment, underemployment and insecure employment at a young age have a a long-term effect on income, debt, housing, home ownership, and ultimately also on the formation of relationships and families, as well as on personal well-being ^[ 32 ] .

Amsterdam city unemployment rates are generally above the national rates, with a peak of 8.9% in 2013 and a very low rate of 4.2% in 019 - a value which has already increased to 5.3% in 2020 due to the Covid-19 crisis. Just as at the national level, unemployment figures are higher for women, low-educated citizens and people with a migrant background (especially non-Western).

Similar to national dynamics, also in Amsterdam youth unemployment is much higher than the rate for the overall working population. Rates rose after the crisis up to 16.8% in 2013, and were decreasing until 2018, only to be rising to 8.3% in 2019 and again to 12.3 % at the end of 020. Youth labour market dynamics in Amsterdam show very clear patterns of inequality based on level of education and migration background. The unemployment rate for youth with a low education in 2017 (when the general trend was very positive) was 12% - a much greater figure compared to the 4% of young Amsterdammers with a higher education and the 7% of those with an intermediate level. They also have a much lower average annual income and are overrepresented in temporary contracts. For those from migrant backgrounds, especially non-Western, the unemployment was 10% more than that of those from a Dutch background.

Some policy interventions introduced to improve labour market policies are the employment protection policy and large youth employment plans. When it comes to the employment protection legislation, it has mainly been aimed at reducing the divide between permanent and flexible employees, and at combating bogus self-employment. However, despite this, it seems that transitions to stable employment are the exception rather than the rule ^{[ 34 ][ 35 ]} . According to a committee advising the Dutch government, a fundamental policy reform is needed to make the labour market more secure.

With regard to youth employment, the Netherlands responded to the EU Youth Guarantee with the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan in 2014, building upon the 2009 Action Plan Youth Unemployment. Compared to the 2009 Action Plan, the focus is no longer exclusively on tackling youth unemployment, but also on preventing it with coordinated action to support youth in vulnerable positions, preventing school dropouts and strengthening the links between education and the labour market. Measures focus on improving the availability and quality of work-based training to develop good “career skills” (both through vocational education and through internships - see Education), and providing incentives to employers to increase job opportunities for youth (so-called Work Agreements).

A trend in the Amsterdam labour market is that high skilled and high paid roles, and low skilled low paid jobs are both growing in number, whilst jobs in the middle are declining ^[ 36 ] . This is fuelled by global technological development and ICT advancements, and by the concentration of high skilled labour in Amsterdam ^[ 37 ] . Job prospects of vocational school graduates are an important factor to this polarised labour market. A study shows that Amsterdam vocational graduates are less likely to be employed by their counterparts in the rest of the country, both in the short and long term ^[ 38 ] .

Among the implemented measures, the Work Experience Grant (Startersbeurs) is an ongoing voluntary program that began in 2013. It aims to give 18-26 year olds skills and work experience ^[ 39 ] . Youth are supported to find a 6-months traineeship of their own choosing in order to develop skills that are important on the labour market and that match their level of education. Compensation is at least €700/month for a maximum of 32 hours per week, and funding is provided jointly by each municipality and the employers involved in the program. The Work Experience Grant is reserved for those with a general secondary education diploma (HAVO/VWO) or a vocational school qualification (MBO). Since the beginning of the program, an average of 64% of young people have been offered a contract after completion or during their traineeship ^[ 40 ] . 

There is, currently, a housing shortage in the Netherlands, which the government aims to address by building 835,000 dwellings by 2030 ^[ 41 ] . The recession between 2013 and 2018, the growing population, dynamics of financialization, and commodification of the Dutch housing market have led to a steady increase in house prices.

The Dutch social housing sector is going through a process whereby the social rental sector is transformed from a broad public provision to a safety net for the vulnerable ^[ 42 ] . Social housing construction has decreased and the stock is shrinking, but to comply with EU regulations, the general government has set a strict maximum income for social rental homes. Dutch rent regulation assigns scores based on the size, quality and location of the dwelling, and applies to both dwellings owned by housing associations and private landlords. If the score falls below 145, it must be rented below a certain threshold. In 2015, the value of the house was added to scores, meaning those in expensive locations, such as Amsterdam, scored high enough to be shifted to the free-market once current tenants move out ^[ 43 ] .

Young people face competition not only from those moving up the housing ladder, but also from investors. In the four major Dutch cities, on of which is Amsterdam, buy-to-let amounted to more than 20% of all home purchases in 2019 ^[ 44 ] .

Housing quality, despite building regulations existing, is lower for rental units in the private sector, especially in large urban areas where there is housing shortages and poorly maintained dwellings, alongside overcrowding ^[ 45 ] .

Due to the housing shortage, there has been an increased exclusion of the Dutch young from the housing market. For those aged between 18-29, accessibility of housing has been decreasing for years, preventing them from accessing home-ownership and from paying the high rents in the private market. Means tested housing subsidies do exist, but you can only receive them if you rent a dwelling with regulated rent. This means many young households cannot get this support, especially if their income is not low ^[ 46 ] .

In particular, the most vulnerable young people – those with an unstable socio-economic background, those without family support, migrants and refugees – it is extremely difficult to secure an affordable and adequate dwelling in the large urban areas of the country - mostly Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Den Haag ^{[ 47 ][ 48 ][ 49 ]} .

However, unaffordability of both homeownership and private rentals affects also young adults who are not marginalized in other domains - even those with a higher education and middle incomes. This is an important aspect because unstable housing circumstances impact decision making around family formation and other life transitions. The early achievement of owner-occupation is often a predictor of earlier partnership formation, more stable household formation and earlier childbearing ^[ 50 ] .

Like in other European countries, the trends in response to these dynamics are a prolonged co-residence of young adults with their parents; greater housing costs when residential independence is finally reached; an increased reliance on the private rental sector where this is available; difficult access to mortgage credit for those with an unstable income; increased household debt when credit is available; increased reliance on intergenerational transfers to access homeownership ^{[ 51 ][ 52 ]} . The increased reliance on intergenerational transfers opens up sharp divides among young people and has long term impacts on the transmission and perpetuation of inequalities.

In Amsterdam, national housing problems are experienced more severely. This is a result of its size, its role as an international economic engine and its appeal as a tourist and student city, resulting in a mix of strong gentrification, touristification, and external investment, pushing prices up. When it comes to social housing, Amsterdam has a tradition of good quality affordable housing, and housing associations are still a major player in the city’s development. However, the social rental sector has reduced in the past twenty years, and the waiting time is at a staggering 13 years ^[ 53 ]  but still accounts for about 42% of the housing stock.

There is also a spatial component that increases segregation within the city and triggers processes of “suburbanisation of poverty” - poor households are pushed outside the limits of the city, and end up in the peripheral parts ^[ 54 ] . It is worth noting that job accessibility is considerably lower in these areas, and commuting costs are higher. Additionally, Amsterdam has a chronic student housing shortage, pushing students to the private rental market.

Until recently, rental contracts in the Netherlands were for an unlimited duration and provide good tenant protection that could only be terminated for very restricted reasons. Moreover, annual rent increases are determined by the government as a percent of inflation. However, in 2016 the national government legally established temporary rental contracts. These provide much less housing security and are not only applied in the private sector, but increasingly so by housing associations for younger tenants. It’s assumed that after termination, these young people would have improved their economic position and be able to move out of social renting. However, the insecurity in temporary contracts has potential to create substantial issues ^[ 55 ] .

Regarding housing, the current institutional and policy is rather complex. Housing policies at the municipal level on social housing allocation and construction are intertwined with national guidelines on homeownership, mortgage credit, rent increases, and social housing requirements. The prominent position of Amsterdam in the national landscape, and bold political decisions, are pushing boundaries of housing policy action to increase housing opportunities for young residents. In particular, there are important developments with regard to social housing.

First, an official municipal evaluation of short-term rental contracts for young people is on the way to assess the consequences. Second, there is a regional proposal for changing the social housing allocation system that is currently under review by the various municipal councils in the region. The new allocation system is to make it easier for young people and for people in urgent need for housing but without health problems to move up the list. It is done using a point system based on the following criteria: waiting time, personal circumstances according to urgency, and intensity of search on the social housing website Woningnet. This won’t affect the number of social dwellings available, but at least it aims to change the type of people that these dwellings are allocated to.

Third, the Amsterdam Woondeal (Housing Deal) aims to reduce the housing shortage and ensure sufficient affordable housing more broadly. This is an agreement signed in 2019 by the Metropool Regio Amsterdam and the national government. Until 2025, the region can build more than 100,000 additional homes - either as new developments or through regeneration of deprived neighbourhoods - thanks to a financial commitment by the national government (Ministry of the Interior), the Ministry for Social Affairs and Employment, and the two provinces that are part of the Metropool Regio. The agreement entails a cooperation about legislative amendments and exemptions in order to achieve the common objectives. Moreover, there is a student and youth housing plan which aims to build 900 dwellings in Amsterdam and 1,500 in the overall metropolitan region reserved for students and ‘starters’.

Finally, regarding new developments, the municipality requires developers to include specific types of housing in specific proportions in new construction projects. Currently, the city requires 40% of buildings to be for social rent, 40% for affordable private rent or affordable ownership, and 20% may have full market prices.

The Netherlands is a rich and prosperous country, with low unemployment and the smallest proportion of NEET among OECD countries. Nonetheless, poverty is a persistent problem affecting around a million a year. In 2017, during a period of economic growth, 5.7-8.1% of children and 12% of self-employed people lived under the poverty line. The rise in poverty rates have been heavily increased by the Covid-19 crisis and, according to some, the current social assistance policies ^[ 56 ] . Work has been emphasised as a solution to poverty, with the assumption that a full-time job should provide sufficient income to participate fully in society. However, as a result of the labour market, this is no longer the case  ^[ 57 ] .

The Amsterdam Poverty Monitor 2019 ^[ 58 ]  shows that in recent years the city has had a sizeable but shrinking group of poor households. Poverty is not evenly distributed across the city and the relationship between poverty and personal and household characteristics are stable: although poverty percentage is decreasing across the board, there is little change in the proportions between groups. The elderly, children and those with non-western migration background are at more risk than others. It is also worse among one-parent families and singles. For all households with children, but significantly single-parent households, more children increases the risk of poverty.

Socioeconomic disadvantages are also spatialised in Amsterdam, with several neighbourhoods showing high concentrations of poverty, low educational attainment, high unemployment and residents from non-western backgrounds. They are also typically dilapidated, with a higher concentration of social housing and lower quality housing.

There are two main components to the Dutch social security system:

• Unemployment Benefits (Werkloosheid Verzekering) which are provided by the Public Employment Service (UWV) and depend on employee’s work history, both in length and earnings. The longer one worked before unemployment, the longer the period covered by unemployment benefits, with a maximum of 2 years. This means those who have not previously worked in the Netherlands and the self-employed cannot access unemployment benefits and have to rely on other social assistance. This is not means-tested, but they must actively search for a job.
• Social Assistance (Sociale Bijstand) is a means-tested benefit based on minimum wage and is aimed at long-term unemployed (>2 years) and at unemployed people without work history.

Whilst its general structure has not changed, the Dutch welfare system has gone through several reforms in the past decades. The most recent, and largest, shift has been to a Participation Society ^[ 59 ] , where everyone is supposed to contribute to society and responsibility is put on individuals to take care of their needs and only use welfare support as a last resort ^[ 60 ] .

The Participation Act of 2014 (Participatiewet) is a legislative tool which has as its objective the reintegration of all citizens who can work into employment, volunteer work, or care and social support. Beneficiaries are expected to look for work, unless exempt. If they lack skills, they can participate in training programs to improve their chances. Alongside the Social Support Act (Wet maatschappelijke ondersteuning), the Participation Act decentralised financial and organisation responsibilities of Social Assistance to municipalities. It also scrapped previous legislation aimed at partially disabled people and made municipalities responsible for their social assistance.

Among new restrictive rules is the sharing cost provision (kostendelernorm) where individual earnings and the rest of the households earnings are used to calculate income for social benefits, meaning many low-income people who care for sick elderly parents, or have adult children who cannot afford independent living, are denied social assistance ^[ 61 ] . But the most debated and contested rule is the mandatory reciprocity provision (tegenprestatie). According to this rule, recipients are obliged to do voluntary work or training in return for their benefits. This is in line with the idea that participation in society is only meaningful when it is attached to work and recipients should be “deserving” ^{[ 62 ][ 63 ]} .

This same Participation Society philosophy states young people are not supposed to be on benefits, but should be in education or work. Adults below 23 cannot access social assistance. Adults under 27 have a 4-week waiting period after becoming unemployed before they can get benefits, and have to prove they are doing training, education or job hunting ^[ 64 ] . For those with disabilities, the objective of this was to include them in the regular job market and increase social participation. However, this transition has been less successful than expected ^[ 65 ] , as ‘sheltered’ and ‘adjusted’ jobs are not available, and job options are reduced by about 40% ^[ 66 ] .

As such, the design of the Dutch welfare system sometimes allows the most vulnerable (or least compliant) slip through the cracks, and does not equip them to appropriately deal with the market. For example, those on social assistance who accept low-paying jobs will lose their benefit, but also the additional housing subsidy and other allowances they may receive ^[ 67 ] . Moreover, the Covid-19 crisis has shown that social protection systems may not be effective, and the Social Package approved to deal with this is perceived as tackling the symptoms without touching the underlying issues ^{[ 68 ][ 69 ]} .

In response to the socio-economic and geographic profile of poverty in Amsterdam, the municipality is targeting specific places for regeneration projects using the Neighbourhood Development Programs (wijkaanpak), a policy that impacts local urban  development and welfare provision action. The aim is for an integrated physical, social and economic regeneration of disadvantaged areas through projects that encourage cooperation of the city with citizen groups and NGOs for provisions.

Despite flaws in the national system, Amsterdam is using its position to carve a successful autonomous path. Although under Participatiewet, municipalities are legally required to implement mandatory reciprocity provision (tegenprestatie), ideological positions in local governments vary across municipalities, as do their practices. Several refuse to apply the rule altogether as they consider social assistance an unconditional right, others are extremely strict with it, and others are somewhat in between, using a “soft” approach. Amsterdam falls in the latter group - recognizing as “societal participation” many of the social activities already performed by the recipient (like for example informal care for relatives or other community members). Moreover, welfare recipients have been assisted in finding a personalised labour market that suits not only their skills, but also their inspirations. This is in line with the general choice made by the Municipality to use tailor made and human-centred approaches. Both young people and welfare recipients are guided through the programmes available through individual advice and counselling.

Amsterdam authorities have chosen to follow a general policy with no targeted ethnic groups, but manages to respond to the specific needs of unemployed immigrant youth. This is partially due to NGOs and other local groups who are active with youth with migrant backgrounds been included in the organisation of local activation, training and education policies, and individualised advice that takes culture into consideration.

Connected to the idea of tailor made approaches, the Municipality of Amsterdam also prides itself on the Youth Points, a physical interface between municipal services and the city’s youth. They are local offices where 18-27 year olds can find support and guidance to be directed towards programmes and initiatives that the Municipality organizes together with NGOs, educational institutions, businesses and social actors. The fact there are many Youth Points across the city, particularly in deprived areas, makes it easier to reach those in need of support.

However, there are those who are difficult to reach despite efforts, not least because they may have severe social problems, including a language barrier, and little interest in educational and employment programmes. Many unemployed young people suffer from issues such as mental health and drug-related problems ^[70] . A study showed that in 2017, there were more than 12,000 young people that not only were not in education, employment or training, but were also completely unknown to social services, as they had never used any municipal programme nor applied for social benefits ^[ 71 ] .