Some 13 of the ministers and junior ministers in the last cabinet have not found a new job four months after it was disbanded on July 2, a tally among the 29 ex-members by RTL Nieuws has shown.

The fourth cabinet led by Mark Rutte and made up of VVD, D66, CDA and ChristenUnie, was in office from 2022 until it fell in July 2023 over a conflict about asylum measures. It took until July of the following year for the new cabinet under Dick Schoof to take over.

Some of the members of the caretaker cabinet found new jobs early on. Wopke Hoekstra  (CDA) left to become European commissioner for Climate action, while former health minister Ernst Kuipers (D66) also stepped down prematurely, accepting a post at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Junior culture minister Gunay Uslu (D66) left to become ceo of the family travel company Corendon.

Four VVD members of the former cabinet returned as MPs, including Dilan Yeşilgöz and Eric van der Burg.

While Mark Rutte went on to become Nato chief, fellow VVD members from his cabinet Micky Adriaansens (economic affairs), Mark Harbers (infrastructure), Christophe van der Maat (Defense) and Liesje Schreinemacher (foreign affairs) are still looking for a post.

D66 politicians Kajsa Ollongren (Defense), Robbert Dijkgraaf (education), Franc Weerwind (legal protection), Fleur Gräper (culture and media) and Steven van Weyenberg (finance) are currently also between jobs.

Sigrid Kaag, who also left early, is now  senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza while junior digitisation minister Alexandra van Huffelen became the new chairwoman at Radboud University.

Of the six CDA members, Hanke Bruins Slot (foreign affairs), Karien van Gennip (social affairs) and Vivianne Heijnen (Infrastructure) have yet to find a new post.  Their colleague Hugo de Jong became interim king’s commissioner in his native Zeeland.

Jobless ex-ministers and junior ministers are paid 80% of their salaries in the first year and 70% from year two, depending on the number of years in office. It has a minimum of two and a maximum of three years and two months. Politicians have to be in the job for at least three months to qualify.