No dramatic increase in Romanian, Bulgarian immigrants

The expected influx of Eastern Europeans to the Netherlands in 2014 failed to materialize, Trouw reported on Wednesday. For the past year people from Romania and Bulgaria have been able to work in the Netherlands without a permit. Critics feared that people from these countries would flood the labor market by working for minimum wage. Approximately 7,500 Romanians and just over 3,300 Bulgarians came to work in the Netherlands in 2014. This is according to figures from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. This is significantly less than the number of Poles who moved to the Netherlands last year (57 thousand people). People from Poland have been able to work in the Netherlands without a permit since 2007.