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R&D workers are identified by their occupation, rather then their education. The Dutch
equivalent of the International Standard Classification of Occupation (ISCO) is the SBC92
(Standaard Beroepenclassificatie 1992), which is being used by CBS (Statistics Netherlands).
The SBC distinguishes between different levels of occupations: low (first digit: 1-5), high (6-7)
and scientific (8-9). The second digit indicate the sector of occupation. We classify within the
category ‘core R&D occupations’ the sectors: 2nd digit SCP 4-8 (agriculture, mathematics and
physics, engineering, transport) and within the category ‘broad R&D occupations’ the sectors
2nd-digt SCP 0 (other occupations) and SCP 8 (managers).
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In 2001, R&D-personnel constituted about 3 % of the S&T labour force. About half of these
R&D-workers are RSEs.
2.2 The problem from the perspective of the policymakers
In policy, special attention is being devoted to science and engineering in higher education, and
to the S&E job market. These efforts stem from the perception that a shortage in the S&E work
force is already a fact or an eminent possibility. A summary of the analysis behind these
concerns, from both business and government, is given in the report ‘No knowledge workers,
no knowledge economy’ (‘Zonder Kenniswerkers, geen kenniseconomie’), which is published
together with the ‘Delta plan beta/technology’. The report analyses the market for knowledge
workers and S&E graduates in particular. After analysing these, the report signals an increasing
discrepancy between demand and supply of S&E graduates. We will here shortly discuss these
factors.
Supply of S&E graduates
The report signals a concern about the low supply of S&E graduates. This is particularly based
on a comparison of the Netherlands with other industrial countries. Data from the European
Commission show that the Netherlands falls far behind Germany, France and UK in terms of
the percentage of S&E graduate students out of the total population. With about 10 S&E
graduates per 1,000 of male population aged 20-29 (7 for males and females together in that age
bracket), the Netherlands falls in the lowest group together with Italy. Finland and Ireland are in
the leading group with both more than 20 S&E graduates per 1,000 inhabitants in the age
bracket 20-29. Further, while other countries show an increasing trend like UK, France or Italy,
the number of S&E graduates in the Netherlands over the 1993-2002 period remains fairly
stable at a low level. The low numbers are not a new phenomenon. For the United States, data
are only available for the earlier years.