Quarter of Dutch worried about losing their job due to Covid

The coronavirus crisis has 26 percent of Netherlands residents worried about losing their jobs. Young people in particular are worried about looming unemployment, according to a poll among over a thousand working Dutch for HR service provider Visma Raet, RTL Nieuws reports.

Young people relatively more often work on a temporary contract, making them easier to dismiss than someone on a permanent contract. Nearly a third of Netherlands residents under the age of 35 are worried about their job, compared to about 20 percent of people aged 55 and older.

The coronavirus crisis dumped many companies into tough times. Multiple large companies already announced reorganizations, cutting thousands of jobs. 

Many respondents are considering retraining to a more promising sector. Where the crisis put extreme pressure on companies in sectors like the catering industry, events and aviation, other sectors like online stores and IT service providers are booming. "The corona crisis has made clear that we cannot stand still. For example in your own field, how it is developing, but also outsides of it there are new opportunities, other opportunities," Joke van der Velpen of Visma Raet said to the broadcaster.

On Tuesday, central planning office CPB said that the current rising unemployment rate will likely recover to more normal levels in about five years' time. Though the office added that people who find new work after becoming unemployed will often have to face lower income for a time. "This is especially true if they have had no work for a longer period of time and therefore lose skills and knowledge," The CPB said. Retraining and starting from the bottom in a different field can also mean lower income.

The Dutch debt aid organization NSR reported that due to the crisis, the number of Netherlands residents seeking help for financial problems nearly doubled. More than a fifth of Dutch households are currently having problems paying the bills. In large cities like Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague, even a third of households are currently struggling. And this is expected to increase, according to NSR. "Most of the regulations that apply to corona will end in September or October, and we will see that in the number of requests for help," NSR director Martin Suithoff said.

The government is currently working on a third aid package to help businesses survive this crisis. Fewer companies will be eligible for this new package, and subsidies will be less generous. But the support will run into at least the summer of 2021, sources told various Dutch newspapers.