30 percent more bankruptcies, that is what CBS opens the week with. According to preliminary figures, 4,270 companies, including sole proprietorships, will be declared bankrupt in 2024 – the highest number in eight years. Last year there were still 3,272. The peak (9,431) was during the euro crisis in 2013.
And then the self-employed: in December there were 21,000 self-employed people who stopped being self-employed, the Chamber of Commerce reported this morning. It is the first time that more self-employed people stop than start, more than half more than in December 2023. From this year onwards, the Tax Authorities will enforce the rules for bogus self-employment that have existed for nine years. The Chamber of Commerce suspects that this explains the record number of self-employed people who are quitting.
Once you are (back) employed, you may wonder whether your salary is somewhat in line with that of your colleagues. Editor Tan Tunali wrote the column Dilemmas in the workplace about this.
What else stood out this morning:
- The Asian fairs went down this morning. The US labor market figures came out on Friday, which were so favorable that investors expect the Fed will not cut interest rates further.
- The largest pension provider of the Netherlands, APG, will in the future only invest for civil servants’ pension fund ABP, reports It F.D this morning. This means that APG will stop asset management for BpfBouw, SPW and the pension fund of its own employees.
- In Belgium today discontinued. Many schools are closed, public transport is at a standstill in many places. The strikers are protesting against plans for pension reforms. Train traffic between the Netherlands and Belgium has also been disrupted.
- The profits from Chinese companies are under pressure, reports the FT. They are declining for the third year in a row, and there is no end in sight. The growth figures will be released from China on Friday and the fear is that the target of 5 percent GDP growth in 2024 has not been achieved.