I'm David Poyser, a journalist. Welcome to the 23rd episode of PezPod, the Insiders Guide to the Network of European Public Employment Services. That's PES for sure.

Part of the key to success of any PES is working with partners, whether that's regional governments, municipalities, the private sector or trade unions.

We all know it can be difficult, but when it works well, the results really pay off for our partners in the regions,

for employers seeking the right people, and obviously for us, the Peas.

Talking about the need to work with partners is easy.

Doing it is more difficult. The Netherlands

specifically has made notable progress recently in working with partners in their regions

and municipalities. One of the people behind this effort is the head of the Dutch

pairs, Martin Camps. He's chair of the board at UWV Social Security and Public Employment

Agency of the Netherlands.

And we're very glad to have Martin with us today again.

Martin, hello.

Hi, David. Good to see you.

Martin, first, could you tell us about the current labour market situation in the Netherlands?

What are your current challenges and priorities?

How is the Dutch pairs addressing these?

Also, what is unique about the Dutch pairs?

Yeah, sure. I can tell here a similar story that many European countries can tell, that we have a very tight labor market.

We have an extremely low unemployment rate of 3.7%. And at the same time, we have a large number of vacancies that so far remain unfilled.

At the same time, on the supply side of the labour market, we have a considerable amount of

untapped labour potential.

For example, individuals who are long-term unemployed, people who have occupational disabilities,

...