Dutch labor market still tight; Only slightly fewer vacancies than last summer

There are currently over 450,000 vacancies in the Netherlands, only 2 percent lower than last summer. According to the temporary employment group Randstad, there is still a massive shortage in the labor market, even though employers are no longer looking for staff as desperately as before.

Randstad noticed less demand for sales staff and marketers, for example. But the need for policy advisers or lawyers increased. The technology sector still has the largest demand for personnel. There, companies are looking for work planners, mechanics, and electrical engineers, for example.

Randstad is feeling the deteriorating economic conditions in its results. In the Netherlands, its turnover fell by 9 percent in the past quarter compared to a year ago. CEO Jeroen Tiel of Randstad Netherlands pointed out that his company had a very good year last year, which somewhat distorts the comparison.

In recent months, the number of vacancies also seemed to be picking up again, Randstad said. That while unemployment in the Netherlands remained stable. Research by the company also showed that 3.3 million workers in the Netherlands have an occupation for which the labor market can be characterized as “very tight.”

Tiel didn’t dare to predict where things will go in the labor market. What he finds particularly important is that Randstad knows how to adapt well to changing circumstances. According to him, Randstad achieved that in the past quarter because the profit margin of the group’s Dutch activities remained almost constant despite the lower turnover.