A new survey has revealed that around 15 percent of people working in the Netherlands are suffering from a reduced income as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
The survey was conducted by the National Institute for Family Finance Information (Nibud) among a group of 2.000 people. It revealed that 15 percent of people with jobs in the Netherlands are earning, on average, 930 euros less per month than they did at the beginning of 2020.
The results of the survey show that self-employed people and people on flexible contracts have been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus crisis. 41 percent of self-employed people, and 44 percent of people in flexible work, have seen their salary fall since February 2020. 13 percent of people on either temporary or permanent contracts have had their income decline by an average of 907 euros per month.
The survey also found that between 10 and 20 percent of respondents were (significantly) concerned about their financial situation. Most are worried about their reduced income, having to dip into savings, or having to miss out on fun opportunities such as holidays or meals out. However, the survey did reveal that people are, in general, more concerned about their health and that of their family.
Nibud has voiced concerns about how the aforementioned workers are coping with reduced incomes. 50 percent of people working in the Netherlands have less than 7.500 euros in savings and are therefore unable to survive major blows to their income. Additionally, 25 percent of people would be unable to survive on their reduced income for longer than four months.
Not only are those in work having to make do with less income, but the coronavirus crisis has also had significant impacts on the Dutch job market. A number of large businesses are being forced to cut jobs and make large portions of their staff redundant. Furthermore, figures released by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) revealed that the coronavirus crisis resulted in 322.000 jobs being lost in the second quarter of 2020.