There are job vacancies in nearly every sector of the Dutch economy the state-run jobs centre UWV reported on Wednesday.

A few years ago, job vacancies were largely in engineering and IT, but there are now staff shortages in far more sectors of the economy – from gardeners, window cleaners, and truck drivers to health care, the UWV said.

The construction industry is running at full speed, call centres are seeking more help and even the tight financial services industry needs more staff.

In some sectors the shortages are limited to those with university degrees. But staff at all levels is being sought in most sectors.

Nearly one out of every five companies in the Netherlands is seeking new employees, twice the level of last year. The UWV puts this into perspective:  while job vacancies are indeed high they have not yet reached the level set 10 years ago, it said.

The Dutch official unemployment rate is currently 3.9%.