The article was written together with together with Arjan Heyma and Rindert Ruit from SEO Amsterdam Economics.

The researchers question the analysis used by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in the Indicator Toekomstige Arbeidsmarktperspectieven (ITA) - a tool developed by the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).

Strong career outlook for economics and business graduates

The study shows that job prospects for these graduates are very good—especially when compared to other academic programmes, including STEM fields such as mathematics, computer science/AI, physics and chemistry.

Key findings:

• Graduates in economics and business have higher employment rates, higher starting salaries and faster access to permanent contracts than many other graduates.
• They play an important role in labour-shortage sectors such as energy, ICT, construction and business services, thanks to their broad skillset and adaptability.

According to Salomon and his co-authors, the ITA underestimates the true labour market outlook for economics and business graduates. They point to several methodological limitations in the ITA:

• It links degree programmes too narrowly to specific occupations, while business graduates often work across sectors.
• It groups university and applied sciences programmes together, even though their labour markets differ significantly.
• It measures only changes in outlook, not the current situation as it relates to job prospects.

Based on large-scale data

The team’s conclusions are based on CBS microdata covering over 250,000 graduates. Their analysis clearly shows that business and economics graduates outperform many others in both employment outcomes and career stability.

Implications for policy

The authors caution against restricting the intake of students in these programmes as part of broader budget cuts or measures to limit international enrolment. ‘Reducing the number of economics and business students makes little sense in an economy facing widespread labour shortages,’ Salomon notes.