Labour market research: the Netherlands
The Dutch labour market is the research unit's home market and the most densely covered. Scarcity per sector, salary movement, time-to-hire and hiring practice are tracked in recurring monitors.
The Netherlands has one of the tightest labour markets in Europe. Unemployment has stayed below 4% since 2022, and sectors like IT, healthcare and engineering report structural shortages that outlast the business cycle.
IPMERC Research runs quarterly monitors on the Dutch market: scarcity per sector and region, median time-to-hire, salary bands by seniority, and the share of hires that come through agencies versus direct channels. Every dataset is published openly.
Fieldwork follows article 89 of the GDPR (the statistical research exemption). Respondents are recruiters, hiring managers, candidates and employers. Results are aggregated, never traceable to a person.
Sectors under study.
What the research unit monitors in Netherlands.
Technology
Software engineering, data, cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure. The Netherlands hosts Europe's densest SaaS cluster outside London, and developer scarcity drives salary inflation across all seniority bands.
Healthcare
Nursing, specialist medicine, mental health and elderly care. Structural shortages in these fields are demographic, not cyclical. The research tracks vacancy duration, regional spread and cross-border recruitment from Belgium and Germany.
Engineering and construction
Civil, mechanical and electrical engineering. Infrastructure projects (energy transition, housing targets) compete for the same talent pool. The monitor tracks contractor rates, permanent-hire ratios and apprenticeship pipeline data.
Finance and professional services
Accounting, audit, legal and compliance. Amsterdam's financial sector competes with London and Frankfurt for mid-career professionals. The research covers inter-city salary differentials and remote-work adoption.
Recurring monitors.
Published openly after each fieldwork round. No paywall, no registration.
Scarcity monitor
Quarterly index of vacancies versus active jobseekers, broken down by sector and province. Published as open data with a methodology note.
Salary tracker
Median salary bands by role, seniority and region. Updated every six months from survey data. Covers base salary, variable pay and benefits.
Time-to-hire benchmark
Days from vacancy opening to signed contract, segmented by sector, company size and channel (agency, direct, referral).
Questions about this research.
How often is the Dutch monitor updated?
The scarcity monitor runs quarterly. Salary data is updated every six months. Time-to-hire benchmarks follow the same six-month cycle.
Where does the data come from?
Surveys and structured interviews with recruiters, hiring managers and candidates. Contact details come from public sources (company websites, trade registers) or earlier conversations. Participation is voluntary.
Can I use the data in my own reporting?
Yes. All published datasets are free to use with attribution to IPMERC Research. There is no paywall and no registration.
Research in other countries.
The same methodology, comparable data.