More bankruptcies, but few left without a job

The number of bankruptcies increased by over a quarter in the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period last year. More companies also announced reorganizations. But due to the tight labor market, few affected workers were left jobless for long enough to need an unemployment benefit, NOS and ANP reported based on figures from the benefits UWV.

Requests for collective dismissals increased by 36 percent, the UWV said. A collective dismissal is when a company fires over 20 employees within three months. This typically happens with reorganizations or due to a deteriorating financial position.

The UWV also got 21 percent more requests to dismiss one or more employees for economic reasons. According to the UWV, this affected 45 percent more employees than in the first nine months of 2023.

Despite a big increase in workers impacted by bankruptcies, reorganizations, or layoffs, the number of unemployment benefits increased by only 11 percent. According to Row Witjes of the UWV, this is because many workers weren’t unemployed for long enough to need a benefit. “There is a shortage of personnel in almost all sectors,” Witjes said. “Employers are eager for personnel.”

For a small group of people, finding a new job takes a little bit longer. “We see this, for example, with people with an administrative background. You also see it with people who have worked for a certain company for years, where a reorganization takes place at some point. Insufficient investment was made in training these people. Nevertheless, they usually do not remain unemployed for long.”

The UWV expects that the total number of collective dismissals this year will be higher than last year. “At the same time, we are still far removed from the number from 2012-2014. Then we had high unemployment and the number of notifications for collective dismissals was on average 40 percent higher than now,” Witjes said.

Staff shortages are, by far, the biggest bottleneck for many employers in their business, he added. So the UWV expects unemployment to remain low.