Traditional multinationals are no longer the big job engine in the Netherlands, concludes De Volkskrant Saturday in a survey of the largest employers in the Netherlands. Employment at companies such as Shell and Philips has been declining in recent years. The largest employers are still with the government, with the police well ahead.
For the research, the newspaper looked at figures from 2014 and 2018. These figures show that traditionally the largest multinationals have fewer and fewer FTEs (full-time equivalents) in recent years. For example, Philips saw the number of FTEs decrease by 9.2 percent from 12,769 in 2014 to 11,600 in 2018. Employment at Shell Nederland also fell sharply: from 11,500 to 9,500.
Whereas the number of FTEs at traditional multinationals is decreasing, the De Volkskrant also a number of growth diamonds. For example, Veldhoven chip machine maker ASML saw the number of full-time jobs increase from more than four thousand to 12,500 FTEs. Companies such as VDL Nedcar from Born and Booking.com also grew considerably in four years: VDL Group grew by 46.1% in terms of FTEs and Booking is good for more than 5,300 FTEs.
The largest employers are still in government and the semi-public sector, writes the daily. Just as in 2014, the police were the largest employer in 2018 with 61,229 FTEs. The police are followed by the Ministry of Defense, with 51,134 FTEs. Defense did shrink by 1.5 percent. The decline at Rabobank was striking, traditionally one of the largest employers in the Netherlands. In four years, the number of FTEs there declined by 15.4 percent to 30,508 full-time jobs.
– .
