Council construction projects often require building firms to take on local unemployed people at the expense of their own workers, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday.

Construction sector firms told the Volkskrant the pressure on regular staff will be even greater thanks to a national plan to help youngsters and the long-term unemployed get work in the building trade.

In particular, civil engineering groups are under pressure because they are almost entirely dependent on government contracts, the paper says.

Local jobless

But in order to win these deals, they are required to ensure part of the work is done by local jobless people through what is known as a ‘social return on investment’ deal. This means companies’ own staff are being squeezed out.

The national plan involves providing 2,500 places for apprentices and a further 500 jobs for the long-term unemployed, but ministers say this should not lead to people already in work losing their jobs.

However, Tilburg University economics professor Ronald Dekker told the paper: ‘No extra bridges or roads are being built, so the same amount of work has to be spread among more people.’