Based on the quarterly Business Survey of the Netherlands (COEN), Statistics Netherlands (CBS) has reported that over 42 percent of companies which hired freelancers in 2024 expect to do so less frequently this year. The stricter enforcement of the Dutch self-employment law has been cited as the main reason. 

Decline in freelance hires expected in the Netherlands

From the beginning of this year, the Dutch tax authorities (Belastingdienst) have started enforcing the Employment Relationships Deregulation Act (DBA Act), which performs checks to ensure “false self-employment” is not taking place. This has led to a rise in the number of workers quitting self-employment, and now more businesses intend to hire fewer freelancers due to the law as well. 

Two-thirds of companies in the Netherlands hire self-employed workers, 42 percent of which expect the hiring of freelancers to decrease. 54 percent believe this number will stay the same, while 3 percent actually expect it to increase.

The industry that is set to experience the biggest drop in freelance hires is construction. More than 6 in 10 companies are planning to hire fewer self-employed people, with almost all of them blaming the stricter rules. This is also the case for the hospitality and agricultural industries, but on a smaller scale. 

Freelancers still needed due to Dutch worker shortage

While many companies intend to provide jobs to fewer freelancers, a large portion (39 percent) are dependent on self-employed workers to fill gaps left by the worker shortage in the Netherlands.

Some other reasons that businesses give for continuing to hire freelancers include their knowledge and experience for specific assignments (22 percent), flexibility in staffing (19 percent) and the need for extra workers to cover production peaks (12 percent).

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