Nearly 1 in 6 workers have stressful jobs

© ANP
In 2024, 16 percent of workers were in demanding jobs with low autonomy. These jobs place high demands on workers and give them little freedom to manage their own work. This is according to figures from the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey (NEA) by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO).
A total of 42 percent of workers report a low degree of autonomy: the freedom to decide when, where and how they carry out their work. 32 percent said they have a demanding job - for example because they have to work quickly or complete a large volume of work. Half of them also report a low degree of autonomy, placing them in the group of people with stressful jobs.

Half of pharmacy assistants have stressful jobs

Stressful jobs are most common in professions with a high level of responsibility and little control over their work. These jobs often require people to work largely according to fixed instructions or protocols. Pharmacy assistants have the most stressful job (51 percent), followed by primary school teachers and medical practice assistants (both 39 percent).

Other employed persons with high levels of stress work in care, education and the accommodation and food services sector. Over the past five years, the number of people in stressful jobs has fallen slightly, from 18 percent to 16 percent, with little change in the type of jobs.


Stressful jobs associated with negative outlook on work

People in stressful jobs are more likely to be pessimistic about the future of their job than others, expecting it to become more mentally taxing (50 percent), more complex (39 percent), or less enjoyable (52 percent) over the next five years. Among all workers in 2024, these shares were 34 percent, 28 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

 

Almost half of workers perceive stress-relief measures as inadequate

People in stressful jobs are almost twice as likely to say that measures are needed to alleviate the pressures of work and the resulting stress. Almost half of them indicated that existing such measures are inadequate and 22 percent said there were no measures in place at all, compared to 28 percent and 10 percent across the whole workforce.


Absenteeism higher among workers with stressful jobs

Sick leave is more common among people in stressful jobs and it also lasts longer. Just over half (52 percent) of workers said they had taken time off due to illness in 2024. Among people with stressful jobs, the share was as high as 60 percent.

Sources