Regional transitions of low educated schoolleavers in the Netherlands

This paper deals with the question of regional variation in two transitions that low educated can make. The first transition is the choice between learning through versus not learning and entering the labour market. Second, if they enter the labour market, the question is whether there is a regional difference in outcomes in terms of earned wages. Several explanatory regional circumstances are considered like urbanization and regional economic growth. The questions are analyzed using data of a schoolleaverssurvey in the period of 1996-2008 in the Netherlands.

Wonen bij Snelwegen:10 lessen voor de planning van snelwegen vanuit een bewonersperspectief

Eén van de vraagstukken waar Rijkswaterstaat in de praktijk van alledag mee te maken heeft is hoe om te gaan met bewoners nabij snelwegen en de daaraan gerelateerde projecten. Dit was de aanleiding voor de start van een promotieonderzoek naar dit onderwerp. Het promotieonderzoek `Living near Highways´ is uitgevoerd binnen de samenwerkingsovereenkomst tussen de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen en Rijkswaterstaat waarin sinds 2007 verschillende promovendi en senior onderzoekers onderzoek doen naar voor Rijkswaterstaat relevante onderwerpen op het snijvlak van infrastructuur en ruimte. De inzichten uit het onderzoek laten zien dat er veel variatie is in de beleving van bewoners nabij snelwegen, wat vraagt om een brede kijk. Tegelijkertijd vraagt deze variatie om context-specifiek maatwerk. Dit boekje vertaalt de wetenschappelijke bevindingen uit het promotieonderzoek naar 10 lessen voor de beleidspraktijk

Labour Market Performance and School Careers of Low Educated Graduates

It is well-known that those with lower levels of education and school drop-outs are less successful in the labour market. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the determinants to continue in education to at least the minimum level defined by the Lisbon Treaty 2000, the so-called starting qualification. We focus especially on the impact of the regional labour market situation and possible spill-over effects due to the presence of higher educated. In addition to that we analyze the differences in successfully finding a job between those who do and those who do not have obtained a starting qualification. We find that regional factors have a significant impact on the decision to (not) continue education and on the chance to get a job. The most striking result we found is that a prosperous regional labor market situation stimulates individuals to accept a job and dropout of school before they reach the level of the start-qualification. They seem to prefer the short term goal of earning money above an investment in schooling of which the benefits will occur in the future. We find evidence for positive spillovers between higher and lower educated, but no evidence for negative crowding out effects. Nevertheless, personal aspects and school/education satisfaction are found to be at least as relevant in school continuation decisions and labour market outcomes of low educated school-leavers

Residential satisfaction close to highways: The impact of accessibility, nuisances and highway adjustment projects

In this paper we focus on gaining insight into the residential satisfaction of households near highways, based on survey data collected among 1,225 respondents in the Netherlands living within 1,000 meters from a highway. Ordinal regression was used to study the impact of highway externalities on residential satisfaction. Moreover, we gained first insights into the reactions of people on highway adjustment projects, by studying people’s expectations towards residential satisfaction as a consequence of the project with use of a multinomial logistic regression analysis. On average, 85 percent of respondents reported being satisfied with living near a highway. Regarding explanatory characteristics, subjective evaluations of air and noise nuisance and of accessibility are of comparable importance and seem to outperform objective exposure calculations or distance from the highway or access lane in explaining residential satisfaction. Moreover highway interest is directly reflected in a higher satisfaction. However, other factors such as neighborhood design, traffic safety and social cohesion are important as well. People react differently to highway adjustment plans, negative expectations being highly driven by current negative feelings towards nuisance, and positive expectations by personal interest in accessibility and a positive attitude towards cars. An important implication could be the notion that exposure is not the same as perceived nuisance, which may give reason to be cautious when making transportation planning decisions based solely on calculations. In addition, the finding that other (neighborhood) factors are also very important in explaining residential satisfaction is interesting when thinking about compensating for the negative effects of a highway in the neighborhood. Also, the results regarding reactions to an announced highway adjustment project might be used to better adjust the planning process to the characteristics of the residents in the area. Further research is necessary to deepen the results, for example through the addition of other road project locations, interviews and longitudinal data

Estimating post-pandemic effects of working from home and teleconferencing on travel behaviour

Like in many other countries, the Dutch government instructed people to work from home where possible during the COVID-19 pandemic to halt the transmission of the virus. This policy seems to have resulted in a structural increase in working from home and teleconferencing that will outlast the pandemic. However, the longer-term effects on travel behaviour are still unclear. Making use of panel data collected using the Netherlands Mobility Panel, this paper has two main aims. First, it analyses developments in working from home and teleconferencing since COVID-19. Second, it estimates the expected post-pandemic effects on travel behaviour. The results show that compared to before the pandemic, the average number of hours that people work from home has doubled and roughly two-thirds of respondents indicate that they teleconference more often. We estimate that structural, post-pandemic increases in working from home and teleconferencing will result in a negative effect on distances travelled by train (-3% to -9%), by bus, tram, and metro (-1% to -5%) and car (-1 to -5%). The estimated effect on the distance travelled by bicycle (-2% to 0%), and walking (0% to +1%) is smaller or even positive, due to people making more complementary trips for other purposes when working from home. When interpreting these results, we should keep in mind that due to various other factors, such as population growth, total travel demand will still grow in the near future