Certain career fields in the Netherlands are expected to encounter a growing need for employees in the coming years, based on research and current developments. This means that the affected sectors may be confronted with problematic shortages in the workforce, and the people who do work in those fields could be burdened with excessive workloads.

Career choices indicate a pending imbalance

The Dutch labour market is facing an imbalance due to the career choices of young students not matching up with the fields in which more employees will be required.

Differences in the level of schooling and elected fields of employment among people who are expected to graduate in the next five or six years mean that there will be a struggle to fill jobs in the Netherlands in the fields of in technology, IT, education, health and social care, construction and wholesale.

The main professions that are expected to struggle are IT, physiotherapy and engineering. Research into the career choices of young people in comparison to the labour market, conducted by the ROA (Research Centre for Education and Labour Market), indicates that needs in these fields are not expected to be met until at least 2022.

Ageing population and investments

The issue does not just stem from the career choices of younger people. The general ageing of the population is also affecting the market. Dutch primary and secondary schools especially will be affected, as it will be harder to fill teaching positions due to the large number of current teachers who are expected to retire, without new educators taking their places.

The expected increase in positions in the Dutch healthcare is partly due to a 2.1-billion-euro investment in care institutions, after a long period of cutbacks.

On the other hand, jobs are expected to become scarce in fields such as agriculture, and management in the hotel, lifestyle and facilitatory service industries, as well as jobs in economy. These jobs will mainly decline because of more automated systems.

Good prospects for higher educated people

People who have completed a higher education at a research university or a university of applied sciences, are expected to have an easier time finding employment, with good to very good job prospects for at least 50% of graduates.

The general level of education in the Netherlands is expected to increase as well, as a result of more students investing longer periods of time in their schooling.