Insights
Articles and labour market research data.
Unemployment in the Netherlands rarely lasts long
Being out of work is a passing state in the Netherlands. The market is cooling slightly, which makes how you…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
A second job is a hiring signal
Stacking jobs is common in the Netherlands. A candidate with a second job tells you something useful, and so does…
Hybrid work is the Dutch norm
Dutch workers work from home more than anyone in Europe, mostly part of the week. For employers that changes how…
Europe's shortage lists point to surplus elsewhere
The same occupation is scarce in one European country and in surplus in another. For Dutch employers that asymmetry is…
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…
The Dutch workforce is thin on technical degrees
The technical shortage is not only about how many students graduate each year. The whole educated base is thin, and…
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…
How you ask for a salary decides what you get
Research on new hires shows which ways of negotiating pay off. The comfortable middle is not one of them.
Employers now rank hiring quality above speed
Employers worry more about hiring the right person than about hiring fast. Most still run one screening process for every…
Labour is the constraint that rises again
Business surveys show the shortage returning before vacancy figures do. Industry and construction feel it first.
The whole rich world is short of staff
Employers who expect relief from abroad count on a surplus that hardly exists. The OECD shows the rich world tight…
A higher offer rarely fills the vacancy
Labour got much more expensive, yet salary is rarely what keeps a vacancy open. Too few applicants and missing skills…
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…
Among the tightest because others cooled faster
The Dutch market cooled too. It ranks among the tightest in the EU because Germany, Austria and Czechia cooled much…
Most shortage measures only move people around
European case studies show what employers do against shortages. Most measures redistribute scarce people. Few create new supply.
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…
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…
Higher pay does not make IT staff happier
IT staff already earn well and decide how they work. Their job satisfaction is still average. A higher offer rarely…
A cooler IT market is not an easier one
The Dutch IT labour market has cooled since 2023. Hiring has not become easy: the problem moved from finding enough…