Parliament as a steppingstone? Patterns of post-parliamentary careers in The Netherlands between 1967 and 2017

Not much is known about Members of Parliament (MPs) after they leave parliament. This study addresses this empirical gap by analysing post-parliamentary employment in The Netherlands between 1967 and 2017. With 970 post-parliamentary careers included, it ranks among the most extensive studies into post-parliamentary career attractiveness up to date and a first inquiry into the development over time. By employing two different measures of attractiveness, this study provides two main findings: first, MPs are increasingly transferring towards a more attractive post-parliamentary career in the 50 years under study, indicating changing patterns in post-parliamentary employment opportunities. Second, by comparing the development in patterns between private and political sector post-parliamentary careers, this study finds that the increase can mainly be attributed to an increase in private sector post-parliamentary careers. Not only are MPs increasingly moving towards the private sector, but they are also increasingly able to gain a more or similar attractive private sector function as of an MP. As a result, the findings indicate substantially different career opportunities, which, in turn, could have significant implications for parliamentary democracy. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1057/s41269-023-00291-w.