Two thirds of Dutch business owners are struggling with staff shortages

Two thirds of business owners in the Netherlands are struggling with a shortage of staff, a new report by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) has found.

According to CBS’ Netherlands Business Survey, which was conducted in April 2025, the issue of staff shortages is particularly felt among larger companies, where 72% report a lack of personnel, compared to 67% of medium-sized and 61% of small businesses.

‘Taking action’

At the same time, as CBS noted, ‘large businesses are more likely to be taking action than small or medium-sized businesses’, to address this problem.

Large businesses are more likely to invest in automation (30%), than small (19%) or medium-sized (24%) operations, while small businesses more often adjust production to match available labour (20%), compared to medium (15%) and large (12%) businesses.

Sector by sector

On a sector-by-sector basis, construction is experiencing the most significant staff shortages, with more than 80% of firms reporting a lack of employees, while the lowest is reported in culture, sports and recreation sector, at 55%.

‘Businesses in the construction sector are also the most likely to say they are taking steps to deal with staff shortages,’ CBS noted. ‘In April 2025, more than four in ten were focusing on improving working conditions, up from three in ten a year earlier. In other sectors, the number of businesses mentioning this as one of their strategies has actually fallen.’

Close to 10% of businesses indicated that they plan to recruit more workers from overseas, with businesses in agriculture (23%) and manufacturing (14%) the most open to hiring overseas workers.

Across all sectors, more than three quarters of businesses are taking steps to boost productivity, including investing in technology and automation, implementing more efficient work processes, and providing employee training. Read more here.