Employment rate among working-age people unchanged for second year running

A total of 9.6 million people aged between 15 and the state pension age were in employment in the second quarter of 2026. That number has remained virtually unchanged over the past two years, but in previous years it had grown almost continuously. Meanwhile, the rest of the population (those under the age of 15, those over the state pension age, and people of working age who are not in employment) rose to just over 8.5 million in 2026, following a decline in previous years. In addition, people are also working slightly fewer hours per week, on average. This is according to figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

In 2014, in the wake of the credit crisis, the number of working-age people (aged 15 to state pension age) who were actually in employment was smaller than the rest of the population by almost half a million people. Since then, the number of people in work has risen steadily, from nearly 8.2 million in Q2 2014 to over 9.6 million in Q2 2024. The number of working-age people not in employment fell over the same period, from nearly 8.7 million to nearly 8.4 million. However, that trend has come to an end in the last two years, and the number of working-age people who are not in employment has risen to around 8.5 million, while the number of people in work has remained almost unchanged. The increase in the number of working-age people not in work mainly involves people above the state pension age and, to a lesser extent, working-age people who are not in work. There is a small but growing share of people who are above the state pension age but remain in paid employment; in Q2 2026, this was the case for 9.5 percent of them, compared with 7.2 percent in Q2 of 2014. The number of people aged younger than 15 is falling, meanwhile.

Increase in number of people in work aged between 55 and state pension age has slowed

For the last three years, the total working-age population has risen at a slower rate, and so has its labour force participation rate. One of the reasons why the labour force participation rate rose more rapidly in previous years was the increase in the state pension age. In 2013, this was raised to 65 years and one month. Today, the state pension age is 67. As a result, since 2013 it is the number of people aged 65 and 66 who are still in work that has risen the most.

In the 25-44 age group, too, there was an increase in the number of people in employment that lasted for several years, but this is also levelling off. In the 45-54 age group, the number of people in employment has been falling for the past nine years. Initially, this decrease tracked the decline in the total number of people in this age group. However, over the past three years, the decrease has accelerated as the share of people in this age group who are in work has also fallen.

Average weekly working hours falling slightly

Not only is the number of people in employment no longer rising, but the average number of hours they work is also falling slightly. This trend is particularly visible among men of working age: four years ago, this group worked an average of 39.4 hours a week, while in Q2 2026 they worked 38.6 hours a week. Among women of working age, there has been a slight increase in average number of working hours, from 29.8 hours to 30.2 hours per week.

The total number of hours worked by the Dutch population can be converted into an equivalent number of full-time workers (known as FTE workers). The total number of FTE workers relative to the rest of the population is on a slightly downward trend, because the number of people in employment has remained virtually unchanged but people are working slightly fewer hours on average, while the non-working population is growing. In Q2 2026, there were 90 FTE workers for every 100 people in the rest of the population. This compares to 92 FTE workers for every 100 people in the rest of the population in Q2 2024..