one in five employees changed jobs last year

More and more people are changing jobs. Last year, one and a half million people switched employers. That is about one in five employees, according to an analysis by the UWV benefits agency that De Telegraaf writes about this morning.

The trend has been going on for 10 years, but since the end of the pandemic, more and more people are switching, for example because of a higher salary or other employment conditions.

Since the pandemic, staff shortages have increased sharply, and there have been more vacancies than unemployed. “Then the bargaining position of the employee will increase sharply, and he will therefore look elsewhere,” says Michel van Smoorenburg of the UWV in the NOS Radio 1 Journal.

At the beginning of 2013, almost 2.8 percent of employees changed jobs, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands that the UWV analyzed. In the third quarter of last year this was 5.3 percent.

Employees with a flexible contract in particular change frequently. More than one in ten of them changed jobs in the third quarter of 2022. This was only 2.8 percent among employees with a permanent contract.

According to the UWV, this is because you often start with a temporary contract with a new employer. People with a permanent contract therefore give up more when they make a switch.

Employees not only transfer to another employer, they are also more likely to start their own business as a self-employed person. “Apparently there are even more advantages to this,” says Van Smoorenburg. If the rates are high and there is a lot of work, you can earn a lot as a self-employed person, he says. However, there are more risks involved.

The current labor market therefore offers opportunities for employees, but there is also a disadvantage to all that switching, says Van Smoorenburg. “For many jobs you also need that longer-term perspective. Gain experience, develop yourself, really get to know the profession,” he says. “Then you need longer-term relationships.”