Due to the economic crisis, the number of freelancers in the Netherlands has increased rapidly. In the past 6 years the share of freelancers in Amsterdam has doubled, according to a new report by the city council's statistics office, the Bureau Onderzoek en Statistiek (O&S).

In 2011, the one man business constituted 50 percent of all businesses in the Dutch capital. O&S attribute this striking growth in freelancers to various factors, including the increased flexibility of the job market, the increasing number of employees who are offered a temporary contract, and the lowering of barriers against starting one's own business in recent years.

Altogether Amsterdam has 47.000 freelancers, 5.000 more than in 2009. These small businesses form an important link in the work process of businesses, according to newspaper De Telegraph.

These freelancers are primarily active in the field of commercial business services. The average freelancer is 46 years old and earns around 30.000 euros per year.

The Economic Bureau of ING reports that on a national level, there is a decreasing trend in the number of new small businesses, whose numbers have decreased by 6 percent compared to the previous year. How large the number of freelancers is within this group of small businesses is unknown.

Sources: Bureau Onderzoek en Statistiek, Het Parool, De Telegraaf