Through a press release, the management of Amsterdam’s Schiphol International Airport informed that more than five hundred low-income people have entered the labour market and are now working in different positions related to the daily activity of the air terminal.
The addition of the new employees is part of an employment scheme that was signed in January 2020 as a joint initiative between the airport management company Royal Schiphol Group, the municipality of Amsterdam, the city’s Employer Service Point (WSP, for its acronym in Dutch) and the Aviation Community Schiphol (LCS, for its acronym in Dutch).
The initial objective was to employ 750 people from disadvantaged backgrounds within three years. However, the pandemic crisis that began in March of that year forced a change in the initial approach and the initiative was redirected towards employment projects for airport employees.
A year and a half later, and in the context of a labour market under a stress with few precedents, the plan returned to focus on helping people far from the world of work to find and obtain employment. The initiative focused on individuals with a disability or who had been on state benefits for a long time.
Between January 2020 and August 2022, more than five hundred people joined the workforce providing various services at the airport. «Many of them are now working successfully in hospitality, transport or logistics», the statement said.
On the other hand, the text states that the institutions involved in the project «are now discussing how they will continue their collaboration after the three-year term of the employment plan ends at the end of January 2023».
See also: Aena inaugurates the new international departures area at Seville Airport
