The official Dutch employment rate fell again in September and now stands at 3.7%, the national statistics agency CBS said on Thursday. This is just 0.1 percentage point higher than the record low unemployment rate reached in the second half of 2008, ahead of the financial crisis, the CBS said. Last month 8.8 million people were doing some form of job, while 4.1 million people were not working for a variety of reasons. Around half of the people in work have a part-time job. More >
The number of children in some form of daycare continues to rise as more women in the Netherlands go out to work, according to new social affairs ministry figures. In the second three months of this year, 796,000 children spent part of their days in a creche or after school club, the cost of which was partly paid by the government through special child benefit.This is a rise of 17,000 on the first quarter of this year. Of them, 330,000 babies and toddlers are cared for in daycare centres, 371,000 attended after school clubs and 118,000 are looked after by paid childminders. This growth is matched by a rise in the number of women going out to work, the ministry said. In the second quarter of this year, 63% of women aged 15 to 74 had some form of job, a rise of 1.23 percentage points on the same period a year ago. More >
Family spending institute Nibud says that everybody in work, including freelancers and the self-employed, should be required to build up a supplementary pension by law. Without such a measure, an increasing number of people will get into financial difficulty when they are older, Nibud says. The institute research shows that 44% of pensioners who worked for themselves have financial problems. 'People are often too optimistic and would rather spend money than save it for later,' spokeswoman Gabriella Bettonville told broadcaster NOS. 'Given that fact, it would be extremely sensible to help people build up a pension.' While on paper many pensioners are well-off, much of their money is tied up in their own home, Nibud points out. Pensioners are often reluctant to move to release the cash and are too optimistic about how much money they will actually gain, the Nibud research shows. Social affairs minister Wouter Koolmees has asked the unions and employers to work together to find way to reform the current Dutch pension system, which is regarded as one of the best in the world. More >
Postal delivery workers at PostNL will go on strike on Thursday as part of a continuing protest over plans to make delivery workers sort post as they do their rounds. The strike means large parts of the country will not receive any letters or small packages tomorrow although big parcels will be delivered as normal. Trade union federation FNV said Den Bosch, Amsterdam and Arnhem regions will be particularly targeted for strike action but it is expecting postal workers from other parts of the country to join the strike. The strike is in protest against plans by PostNL to have postal workers do some mail sorting as they do their rounds. In addition, they say, fully automating the sorting process will mean the loss of hundreds of jobs. The strike is the last in a series of strikes and industrial action at PostNL. More >
The biggest Dutch trade union federation FNV is targeting a pay rise of 5% in the coming round of pay and conditions talks, its biggest demand in 30 years. In recent years the union, which always publishes its pay demand ahead of the budget presentation, has aimed at an increase of 2.5% to 3.5%. Economic growth and trailing salaries are the reason behind the high target, negotiator Zakaria Boufnagacha said. 'We are demanding that workers really profit from economic growth in 2019,' she said. The union federation also wants the government to do more to make sure that 'structural jobs' are done by people on permanent contracts. 'Flexibility is a multi-headed monster that has played colleagues and different generations off against each other,' Boufnagacha said. Last year, the FNV set its sights on a 3.5% pay rise but the average increase in centrally negotiated pay deals was 1.8%. In 2016, unions called for a 2.5% rise but the average was one percentage point below that. Politicians, the Dutch central bank and economists have all called on employers to boost wages to ensure long-term economic growth. More >
A national strike by police has been called off after unions and the government came to an agreement just hours before the action was due to start. Police unions had been in dispute with justice minister Ferd Grapperhaus and police chief Erik Akerboom for several months about a new pay and conditions agreement. They feel officers are not paid enough, there is too much pressure at work and structural staff shortages. Police chief Erik Akerboom said he is pleased with the results of the negotiations which include an 8% rise over the coming years and two bonus payments of €400 each. ‘This package rewards police officers for their efforts over the years,’Akerboom said. Agreement was also reached about capacity and deployment, career opportunities and facilities for older police officers. Grapperhaus said the package was ‘well-balanced’. ‘I have spoken to many police officials over the past months and I have great respect for their passion and commitment (..). I have listened to their criticisms and with these measure the police chief and I want to meet their demands which are entirely justified.’ More >
Cabin staff at Ryanair will go on strike on Friday September 28 as part of what unions call ‘the biggest strike ever’ to hit the airline. Dutch cabin staff at Eindhoven airport will be joined by colleagues from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Union FNV says cabin staff do not earn enough and are only paid for the hours worked on the plane. Hours worked as a result of delays are unpaid and often staff do not receive sick pay. Staff are also obliged to be on standby for eight hours at the airport in case they are needed, for which they are paid €30. Another grievance is that workers fall under Irish law instead of local law. ‘These practices are incredible and lead to a race to the bottom, FNV spokesman Asmae Hajjari said. ‘I am proud of our members who are ready to take on their employer.’ The unions are giving Ryanair a final chance to prevent strike action and have called on shareholders to force the airline to make changes to its pay and conditions policy at the shareholders meeting on September 20. According to the Eindhovens Dagblad travellers should start looking for alternative ways of getting to their destinations. ‘A legal impediment to stop the strike, which was used by Ryanair when its Dutch pilots went on strike in August because of the late announcement, is now disallowed by the court. A strike means all four Ryanair planes stationed at Eindhoven airport will not fly,’ the paper writes. The strike action comes in the wake of a wave of industrial action against the airline, both by cabin staff and pilots. Ryanair employs 80 cabin staff and 40 pilots at its Eindhoven hub. No chaos Ryanair told DutchNews.nl in a statement that it rejected claims the strike would cause chaos. 'Ryanair expects that even if there is another limited cabin crew strike on 28th September, the vast majority of its cabin crew across Europe will work as normal,' the airline said. 'It also expects a significant majority of its cabin crew in Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal will also work normally, as they have during previous strikes, and accordingly there will not be any “travel chaos” or “widespread disruptions”.' If there is a strike, 'Ryanair will pre-advise customers of a small number of flight cancellations, and the overwhelming majority of Ryanair’s flights and services that day will operate as normal,' said the airline's chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs. 'We will carry the overwhelming majority of the 400,000 passengers who will be scheduled to fly with us that day.' More >
More than half of people in their 30s are earning less than their parents at the same age - the first time the younger generation has slipped back in decades, according to researchers at Tilburg University and the social affairs ministry. In particular, people in the lowest income brackets are struggling to climb the social ladder, the research shows. The researcher compared the salaries of 35-year-olds today with their parents when they were that age and corrected the results for inflation. The results showed that in 2015, 49% of today's 35-year-olds were better off than their parents had been, compared with 54% in 2005. This is the first time since WWII that the new generation has been in a worse financial position than their parents, researcher Daniel van Vuuren said. The rise of short-term and temporary contracts and the surge in self-employment is further reducing job security and the platform economy will have an increasingly important role, Van Vuuren said. 'Companies are demanding increasingly flexibility from youngsters against less social protection,' he said. More >
The government has abandoned its plans to allow companies to pay people with a disability less than the legal minimum wage after concluding the process would be too complicated. The plan had been condemned by disability rights campaigners, the macro-economic policy unit CPB and the Dutch human rights commission. At the moment companies that employ disabled people are given a subsidy by the local council and the person in question is paid according to the same collective labour agreement as his or her colleagues. In the new plan the employer would only pay for the productivity of the person with a disability, who could then claim a top-up to minimum wage level from their local council. 'The decision means that we are now being seen as equals,' campaigner Jiska Stad-Ogier told reporters. 'That this plan was ever dreamed up is too bizarre for words - shutting out a vulnerable group out and paying them less money while they have such high care costs.' Jobs Research published earlier this week by the government's social policy unit SCP has found that fewer disabled people are finding jobs since sheltered work schemes were phased out. The SCP looked at 11,000 people who were on a waiting list for a sheltered work place before the new legislation came into effect. One third of them had found a job within two years, but that would have been about half under the old system, the SCP said. The legislation, known as the Participation Act, was supposed to make it easier for employers to take on people with disabilities. More >
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