Employers against gov't plan to raise minimum salary requirement for knowledge migrants

Employers in the Netherlands are against the government’s plan to tighten regulations for knowledge migrants, especially the increase in the minimum salary. Technology companies in particular fear being unable to afford recruiting staff from abroad, the Financieele Dagblad reports.

Currently, anyone under 30 recruited from outside the European Union must earn at least €4,171 gross per month to be considered a knowledge migrant. They can then qualify for the knowledge migrant scheme, which comes with various benefits intended to attract highly-skilled workers.

But in practice, the scheme is sometimes not used as intended. For example, the Labor Inspectorate also finds hairdressers and cleaners working in the Netherlands under the knowledge migrant scheme.

The government, therefore, announced in July that it would tighten the conditions of this scheme, including hiking the salary requirement by up to €600 per month.

Employers are concerned by the measure, according to FD. Wage costs in the Netherlands are already high, and this measure may make it unaffordable to recruit highly skilled workers from abroad, especially for startups, Theo Henrar of FME, the business organization for companies in the tech sector, told the newspaper.

The labor market in the Netherlands and many other European countries is tight. That means that companies have to look further abroad to recruit the workers they need. If that becomes impossible, it could further deteriorate the business climate in the Nehterlands.