For three years in a row, there has been a marked increase in the number of jobs in the Netherlands. In 2017, 207,000 new jobs were created, the largest increase since 2008. This brought the total to 10.2 million, including 8.1 million jobs in paid employment and 2.1 million jobs for the self-employed. In comparison with 1995, the number of jobs has increased by 27 percent. The share of self-employed jobs fell from 21 to 20 percent.

More than one-quarter of these jobs can be found in public administration, education and healthcare. In 2017, most additional jobs were created in business services. The majority of these new jobs were temporary in nature. Most self-employed people work in business services. The percentage of self-employed jobs is highest in agriculture and fisheries, accounting for more than five out of every ten.

In 2017 almost half of all jobs in paid employment were filled by women. In 1995, that proportion was 42 percent. Since then, the number of jobs for women in paid employment has almost doubled, while the number of jobs for men has gone up by 15 percent. The highest proportion of women can be found in swhealthcare (84 percent) and lowest in the construction industry (12 percent). Of the jobs in paid employment woccupied by women, over three-quarters are part-time positions.

The number of unfilled vacancies rose by 45,000 in 2017 to an average of 201,000. This is the highest annual figure since the record number of vacancies in 2008, when there were 240,000 vacancies on average. In 2013, the lowest level in twenty years was recorded: an average of 95,000 vacancies. Since then the number of vacancies has more than doubled.

Over the course of the year, tension on the labour market increased. This tension was reflected in the ratio of unemployed to job openings. The fewer unemployed available to potentially fill each vacancy, the higher the tension. At the end of 2013, there were still seven times as many unemployed people as vacancies. The labour market was therefore loose at the time. As unemployment fell and the number of vacancies rose dramatically, on average there were only 1.8 unemployed people per vacancy at the end of 2017. This resulted in a tight labour market for the first time since the economic boom of 2007–2008.

In 2017 the Netherlands was home to 438,000 unemployed people, defined as jobseekers readily available for work. In 2014, the number of unemployed was still 660,000. The number of people available to start work in the short term (i.e. within two weeks) without actively seeking employment has also fallen since 2014 (from 363,000 to 272,000 in 2017). The number of jobseekers who are not directly available has fluctuated around 150,000 since 2014.

Since 2014, the percentage of unemployed has fallen. In that year, 7.4 percent of the workforce was unemployed, while in 2017 this figure was 4.9 percent. The downward trend is visible in all age groups, but did not start until 2015 for the age category 55 to 64 years. Unemployment among the over-65s did not drop further in 2017. Unemployment is highest among 15 to 24-yearolds and has been for years. However, the difference in unemployment between young people and the elderly (aged 55 to 64) has shrunk.

In 2017, 67 percent of the Dutch population aged between 15 and 74 years were in work. Of this group, 9 out of 10 people worked 12 hours or more per week. Of the young people in work (aged 15 to 18 years), 7 out of 10 had a part-time job of less than 12 hours. From the age of 64, working activity drops sharply.

In 2017, salaries determined by collective labour agreements rose by 1.4 percent, keeping pace with consumer price rises. In 2015 and 2016, the increase in consumer prices lagged well behind rises in collectively agreed wages. This contrasts sharply with the period 2011–2014, when wage rises lagged behind developments in consumer prices during the economic crisis.