Nearly a third of Netherlands freelancers want more work

Some 70 percent of freelancers who work less than 12 hours a week are satisfied with the hours they work. The other 30 percent would like more hours, according to figures Statistics Netherlands released on Tuesday. Between 2004 and 2015 the number of freelancers with work weeks 12 hours or shorter increased from 76 thousand to 112 thousand. This only includes freelancers between the ages of 15 and 75 years who aren't studying and are not permanently employed anywhere. Most of these freelancers do not consider themselves "employed" or "unemployed". A quarter see themselves as "retired" and 17 percent describe themselves as stay-at-home-mom or -dad. 26 percent see themselves as "employed" and 11 percent as "unemployed", of these 54 percent want more work. On average freelancers who work less than 12 hours - also known as small freelancers - are older than their counterparts who work more hours a week. 60 percent of those working 12 hours or less are between the ages of 55 and 75 years, compared to 34 percent of those who work more than 12 hours and 24 percent of full-time freelancers. Freelancers in all three groups are better educated than average. In 2014 the average gross income for small freelancers was 8.9 thousand euros. Half of them earned 2.8 thousand euros or less. Part-time freelancers, more than 12 hours a week, earned an average of 21.4 thousand euros. Full-time freelancers earned 38.3 thousand euros on average.