Vacancies for low-skilled jobs start piling up on Dutch labor market

The tightness on the Dutch labor market is now also visible in jobs with no or low starting qualifications, according to a study by benefits agency UWV. Twenty professions in this category are now struggling to fill vacancies. This includes jobs like traffic controllers, cleaning staff, and work on the assembly line, NOS reports.

"We see that the shortage has widened considerably", UWV labor market adviser Freek Kalkhoven said to the broadcaster. Fewer and fewer people are applying for vacancies for physically demanding professions, on-call work, and work for a few hours a day. As vacancies in other professions are also hard to fill, the people who would usually go for low-skilled jobs "now have the option of moving to other professions", he said.

The UWV spoke to over 2 thousand employers for this study. Only 3 percent said they are increasing salaries or adjusting employment conditions to attract more staff. "I think it is a money issue. Certainly for smaller companies, it is difficult to raise salaries. And they also have to deal with competition", Kalkhoven said. Employers mainly focus on more intensive recruiting through social media, image campaigns, or by looking for workers abroad. 15 percent said they've raised salaries in order not to lose workers.

Despite the massive amount of open vacancies on the Dutch labor market, there are also professional groups in which it is difficult to find work. According to UWV, animal carers, tour guides and funeral home staff, among others, still face fierce competition on the labor market.