Demand for temporary workers to increase for the first time in two years; ING predicts

The demand for temporary workers will rise slightly this year after two years of shrinkage, ING reported. The bank predicted that the number of hours made by temporary workers will grow by 1.5 percent. The economy is picking up again somewhat and agencies are going to profit from the enforcement of the laws against false self-employment, which began at the start of this year. ING thinks that this will benefit employment agencies and secondment agencies.

A lot of work that was done by self-employed people can no longer be done this way, said ING economist Katinka Jongkind. "It is expected that hiring companies will therefore increasingly choose to offer self-employed persons a permanent contract or to hire self-employed persons through a temporary employment or secondment agency, as these are currently the most flexible forms of employment."

The bank did emphasize that the temporary worker sector will remain under pressure. There is less of a demand for standard temporary workers positions due to automatization and stricter laws and rules. ING also think that there are currently fewer quickly growing companies in the Netherlands that require temporary workers.

Billions of euros have been invested in rapid delivery companies like Gorillas, Getir, Zapp, and Flink. Online supermarkets like Crisp and Picnic also received significant investment, according to ING. This resulted in more demand for temporary workers and self-employed people.

In addition, the GGD needed many temporary workers to work at vaccination locations during the coronavirus pandemic. But the coronavirus pandemic is now over and the demand in the delivery sector has largely dissipated, the bank reported.

Getir, who own Gorillas, announced last year that they are leaving the Netherlands. Thus far, no other large scale company has come in to replace them, said ING.

Last year, demand for flexible workers shrank by 5.5 percent and the year before by 7.5 percent, ING reported with figures from Statistics Netherlands. Companies remained very reluctant to hire temporary workers due to low economic growth and persistent geopolitical uncertainty in the market, according to the bank.