Due to staff shortages in the healthcare sector, the costs of hiring temporary and self-employed workers increased significantly last year. Costs for external personnel represent an increasingly large part of total personnel costs, according to new data from Statistics Netherlands on Thursday.
The four major health sectors (home care and nursing, hospital care, psychiatric care and assistance for the disabled) spent a good 48 billion euros in personnel costs in 2021. This is 2.1% more than a year earlier.
Expenditure on temporary workers and the self-employed grew faster than the rest of wage costs, ie by 8.3%. Therefore, the part of total personnel costs that went to external employees also increased. Especially in disability care. In 2021, 9.3 per cent of total personnel costs were spent on hiring temporary workers and self-employed workers without employees. In 2015, this was still 4.8% of the total.
Also in home and nursing care and in psychiatric care, the share of external hires on the total cost of personnel has increased significantly.
According to Statistics Netherlands, hospitals have not seen a major increase. In 2021, more than 5 per cent of personnel costs were spent on temporary workers and self-employed workers without employees.
