People who end up claiming unemployment benefit after the age of 50 should be retrained as craftsmen and women, according to VVD and CDA MPs.

The over-50s find it hard to re-enter the workforce and MPs Bas van ‘t Wout (VVD) and Pieter Heerma (CDA) say the solution could be to retrain the older unemployed as goldsmiths, pastry cooks and similar professions at special craft academies.

Some 7,000 people a year leave these professions, which would offer plenty of opportunities for this group, the MPs say. They also want to prevent the knowledge and skills associated with crafts from disappearing.

Heerma and ‘t Hout maintain that vocational colleges do not pay enough attention to crafts at present.