Labour and leisure time

Work is important for people and for their well-being, as it provides them with income and an active role in society. This theme covers net labour participation and satisfaction with work, together with satisfaction with the available amount of leisure time. The CBS report on the labour market (CBS, 2023 ) and SDG 8.2 contain further information on the labour market situation of the Dutch population.

Net labour participation
Satisfaction with work
Satisfaction with leisure time

Net labour participation

Net labour participation is defined here as the share of the employed labour force – people with a paid job – in the population aged 15 to 74 years.

Situation in 2022

In 2022, 72.2 percent of the Dutch population aged 15 to 74 years were in some form of paid work. This includes all jobs, irrespective of the number of weekly working hours.

In 2022, the net labour participation rate of men – 76.3 percent – was higher than that of women (68.1 percent).
Net labour participation was highest – between 86 and 87 percent – among 25- to 54-year-olds. Rates were lower, but still above average, among people aged 55 to 64 years (73.1 percent) and 15 to 24 years (75.5 percent). Although 16.2 percent of 65- to 74-year-olds were still in paid work, most people in this age group had retired.
Net labour participation was higher than average among people with higher (82.2 percent) and people with medium (74.4 percent) levels of education. For people with lower levels of education, the rate was lower than average, at 55.0 percent.
People born in the Netherlands whose parents were also born in the Netherlands had a higher than average net labour participation rate (73.4 percent). This was also true for people born in the Netherlands with at least one parent born outside Europe (76.2 percent), and European-born migrants (74.1 percent). Lower than average participation rates were reported for people born in the Netherlands with one or both parents born in Europe (excl. the Netherlands) (68.9 percent) and migrants born outside Europe (60.5 percent).

Sex, age, education level and origin/country of birth may correlate with each other. The percentage of people with higher education, for example, is not the same in all age groups. For the measurements conducted in this analysis, these relations are taken into account by applying a standardisation procedure, which corrects for the variation in the occurrence of the above characteristics. These standardised figures reveal that people born in the Netherlands with one or both parents born outside Europe have lower net labour participation rates than average. The reason that the non-standardised figures show an above average participation is mainly because of the age composition of this group: second generation migrants of whom one or both parents were born outside Europe consist of relatively many under-25s. Migrants who were born elsewhere in Europe are more likely to fall in the age group 25 to 54 years, for whom participation rates are relatively high.

Changes between 2019 and 2022

Net labour participation rose from 70.0 percent to 72.2 percent between 2019 and 2022. Compared with this increase for the population aged 15 to 74 years, the following groups show different developments:

For people aged 25 to 54 years, the increase in net labour participation between 2019 and 2022 was smaller than average, whereas for 55- to 74-year-olds it was larger than average. Changes in net participation of 15- to 24-year-olds have been around the overall average since 2019.
Among people with medium levels of education, the increase in labour participation in this period was smaller than average.
The increase in the share of people with paid work was larger than average for people born in the Netherlands with both parents also born in the Netherlands, and for people born in the Netherlands of whom one or both parents were born outside Europe. For migrants who themselves were born outside Europe, net labour participation was lower than in 2019.

Satisfaction with work

Situation in 2022

According to the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey (NEA) conducted by CBS and TNO, 77.9 percent of all employees aged between 15 and 74 years were satisfied or very satisfied with their work in 2022.

Job satisfaction of employees aged 25 to 34 years (75.6 percent) and 35 to 44 years (77.0 percent) was lower than average, while satisfaction rates of employees aged between 45 and 54 years (78.9 percent), and particularly of those aged 65 to 74 years (87.3 percent) were higher than average.
Higher educated employees reported above-average job satisfaction (80.2 percent). Those with low and medium education levels were below the average (75.9 and 77.0 percent respectively).
Employees born in the Netherlands whose parents were also born in the Netherlands were more satisfied than average with their work (79.7 percent). Employees born in the Netherlands with one or both parents born outside Europe (74.2 percent), migrants born in Europe (71,1 percent) and those born outside Europe (70.2 percent) were all less satisfied with their jobs.

Changes between 2019 and 2022

The overall percentage of employees satisfied with their work in 2022 was the same as that in 2019 (77.9 percent). For the following groups, however, there were some changes in this period:

Job satisfaction of employees aged 35 to 44 years was significantly lower in 2022 than in 2019.
Job satisfaction was significantly higher in 2022 among people born in the Netherlands of whom one or both parents were born outside Europe. The same is true for migrants born in Europe.

Satisfaction with leisure time

Situation in 2022

Nearly a quarter of adults in the Netherlands (74.3 percent) were satisfied with the amount of leisure time they had in 2022, while 7.1 percent were not satisfied and 18.6 percent were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.

Different age groups have differing opinions on the amount of leisure time they have. People aged 18 to 54 years are less likely than average to be satisfied with their amount of free time, while over-55s are more likely than average to be satisfied. People in age group 65 to 74 years and the over-75s in particular report high levels of satisfaction with leisure time: 95 and 94 percent respectively.
Lower educated people are more satisfied than average with the amount of leisure time at their disposal (78.8 percent), while the group with medium education levels are less satisfied than average (72.1 percent).
People born in the Netherlands whose parents were also born in the Netherlands are more likely to be satisfied with the amount of free time they have: 76.9 percent say they are.satisfied. People born outside the Netherlands or with at least one parent born outside Europe are less satisfied than average.

After correction of education level groups for the unequal composition by sex, age and origin/country of birth, satisfaction with free time among people with lower and medium levels of education no longer differs from the average. After correction, it is the group with higher levels of education who are more satisfied than average with leisure time. The differences in the uncorrected figures are therefore related to the sex, age and origin composition of these groups.
When we correct the origin/country-of-birth groups for composition by sex, age and education level, satisfaction with leisure time is no longer lower than average for people born in the Netherlands of whom at least one parent was born outside Europe.

Changes between 2019 and 2022

The overall share of people saying they are satisfied with the amount of leisure time at their disposal has not changed significantly from 2019 to 2022. However:

For 45- to 54-year-olds, satisfaction with the amount for leisure time increased by nearly 4 percentage points between 2019 and 2022. By contrast, in the group aged 18 to 24 years it fell by just over 4 percentage points in this period.
People with medium levels of educations reported less satisfaction in 2022 compared with 2019: a decrease of 2 percentage points. In the group with higher levels of education more people were satisfied: they showed an increase of 2 percentage points in this period.
There was a relatively favourable change for people born in the Netherlands whose parents were also born in the Netherlands: an increase by 1 percentage point.

References

SCP, 2018, Alle ballen in de lucht. Tijdsbesteding in Nederland en de samenhang met kwaliteit van leven. The Hague: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau.