Almost half of Dutch workers work part-time. On average, the part-time working week is 21 hours. If all these part-timers worked four hours more, they would almost solve the entire staff shortage until 2027.
That concludes consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in a new report, Unlocking the potential on the Dutch labor market .
The agency estimates that until 2027 the Netherlands will be short of about 450,000 FTE (full-time employees). If the average Dutch part-timer would not work 21 hours, but 25 hours a week – as is the average in countries such as Belgium, Sweden and Romania – we would gain 425,000 FTE. Thus, the need would be almost completely met.
Increasing the participation of the elderly (55-74 years old) and people with an occupational disability also contributes to increasing the labor supply, just as the additional training of the unemployed and the better use of newcomers can partly reduce the shortage on the labor market. to resolve. But making more use of part-timers has by far the greatest effect, concludes PwC.
One and a half earners
“The Netherlands is a country where you can run a household with 1.5 income. In many other countries that is a lot more difficult”, explains PwC’s chief economist Jan Willem Velthuijsen. It’s part of our culture, he says. “But given the aging population, we will have to organize this differently. After all, there are more people who will leave the labor market in the coming years than there will be new recruits.”
The question is whether part-timers want to be persuaded to work more hours. Due to our progressive tax system and allowance system, part-time workers often have little left over from their extra earnings.
Earning more is especially unattractive for single parents who receive care and housing benefit. At the bottom of the line, they sometimes have less than 20% of their extra salary. There are also enormous shortages in childcare in many regions, so that young parents cannot simply work more hours.