Number of vacancies in the mental health sector has reached its peak

The number of vacancies in the mental health sector rose to 9,800 in the second quarter of this year, the highest number since counting began in 2018. At the beginning of the year, there were still 3,700 vacancies. "There were 74 vacancies for every 1,000 jobs in the mental health sector", according to the statistics authority CBS on the current situation.

The mental health sector has the most vacancies of the entire health and social services sector (an average of 44 per 1,000 vacancies) and is well above the Dutch average of 46 per 1,000 vacancies. The number of employees in the mental health sector is increasing, as in the entire health and social care sector. In the first quarter of 2024, there were 110,000 employees, the highest number since 2010, the first year for which such figures are available.

Earlier this week, the mental health trade association warned that it may close departments if the government starts enforcing the self-employed (zzp'ers) rules. The Inland Revenue has announced that from January 1, it will once again enforce the bogus self-employed rules in full, i.e., when self-employed people are used for work they are not actually doing independently. Around 13,000 people are self-employed in the mental health sector. For clinics, in particular, it is "very difficult to get employees into a permanent employment relationship."

Between 2023 and 2024, the mental health sector gained a net of 3,800 employees. In that year, 25,500 employees started a new job in mental health care. Of these, 9,9000 came from another sector within healthcare and welfare, and 10,200 came from another sector, according to CBS.