Insights
Shortage and replacement
Most open roles exist because someone leaves, not because a company grows. These articles follow where the shortage sits and who must be replaced.
The openings to 2035 come from departure
Growth is the exception, departure the rule. The European outlook to 2035 makes Dutch recruitment a structural task, with the squeeze at the top.
You still hire when you do not grow
Growth is the smaller part of recruitment. Replacement demand follows from years of birth, not from order books, and it is already fixed.
Departures decide which jobs stay tight
Almost every Dutch occupation is tight. Which ones stay tight is decided by who leaves, not by what grows, and technical roles are not…
The hours already on your payroll
The largest untapped group on the Dutch labour market already has a job. Part-timers who want more hours outnumber the unemployed.
Ageing arrived, the benefit wave did not
The pensioners came, the strain did not. Older workers stayed on, and they are now the fastest-growing source of labour on the Dutch market.
The shortage sits in the workshop
Ask Dutch employers which vacancy is hardest to fill and a technical role tops the list, across several sectors at once. The cooling market…
The sectors where demand ignores the cycle
Construction, grid work and healthcare hire on programmes, not on the economy. With a labour force that barely grows, their people must come from…
Scarce labour now decides which work gets done
When the labour force stops growing, demand adapts to supply. Firms take on less work. The people exist, but they are rarely visible as…
The shortage stayed where work cannot wait
The cooling labour market is real on average and misleading by sector. Construction and healthcare are about as tight as they were at the…
The youth reserve is already empty
Few young Dutch people are outside both work and education, fewer than anywhere else in the EU. Most of them want to work. The…
Why more IT graduates did not end the shortage
Education delivered far more ICT graduates than in 2015 and the IT shortage barely moved. The missing ingredient is experience, which no degree supplies.
Regulators have outgrown the rest of the state
Supervision grew faster than the state since 2010 because every new law brought new duties. Growth has stalled for now, but new European rules…
The back office shrinks from the bottom
Data entry and secretarial work keep shrinking, the specialist layer above it keeps growing. An ageing workforce means the roles that remain still need…
Commercial roles are among the hardest vacancies to fill
Dutch employers name commercial roles among the vacancies that are hardest to fill, and sales and marketing sit high on the global list too.…