Employees switching jobs more in tight labor market

Employees in the Netherlands are changing jobs more and more. The tight labor market and many vacancies make it easier to switch jobs for better terms of employment, like a higher salary. “But the work-life balance and option to work from home have also become more important in recent years,” labor market analyst Bart van Krimpen of employment agency Randstad said to NU.nl.

The Dutch labor market is still very tight, Statistics Netherlands reported on Tuesday. In the fourth quarter of last year, there were 123 vacancies for every 100 unemployed people.

Employers in technology, healthcare, transport, and logistics, in particular, are desperate for staff, Van Krimpen said. The scarcity increased most significantly in professions at the secondary vocational level. There is high demand for truck drivers, security guards, and administrative staff.

More people are also turning to freelancing, especially in healthcare, IT, logistics, and transport. Randstad CEO Jeroen Tiel worries about the imbalance in the labor market. “At the moment, one in five working people is self-employed. We need to regulate this much better to prevent bogus-self employment by ensuring that they build up a pension and have disability insurance. It is also not a bad idea to set a minimum hourly rate,” he said to the newspaper.