Fewer Dutch workers switching jobs in 2025

ACCORDING to new figures released by Statistics Netherlands, fewer workers have switched jobs in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period of 2022. The new report states that overall, 305,000 workers, or 3.8 per cent, changed jobs in Q2 of 2025, compared to the 358,000, 4.7 per cent, in 2022.

The figures show that most people who changed jobs in this year, around 62 per cent, were involved in a flexible, not permanent, employment contract. These flexible contracts include contract workers, temporary workers, and those only working for a fixed period of time, as well as other types of non-permanent employment arrangements.

In particular, the statistics show that people with sales, administration, reception desk, and driver (including taxi and delivery van) occupations are choosing to stay put in 2025 more than in 2022. Notwithstanding, though the decline in these groups is the most dramatic compared to three years ago, job switchers remained the most common in these fields as well as the agricultural sphere.

Moreover, those who didn’t have much seniority in their companies (that is, less than a year) were less likely to switch jobs. Managers of all kinds were also more likely to stay put.

Dutch employees, some of the happiest in the EU?

This dramatic shift could be attributed to the fact that the labour market is much more stable now than it was a mere three years ago. With the easing of the job market, people feel safer to look for other, more beneficial options that better align with their needs.

The Netherlands’ recent experimenting with the four day work week could also have something to do with the dramatic shift, as the arrangement, which has been largely adopted by many companies across the country, has shown to be extremely beneficial to employees’ mental health, physical health, sleep cycles, contentment with their employers, and overall happiness.