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Most Dutch workers who leave self-employment do not become unemployed. More than half find paid work within three months, and nearly half of those re-employed move to a different sector, according to an analysis by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) published on 15 October 2026.
What happened to the Netherlands’ self-employed workforce?
The number of self-employed workers in the Netherlands was about 131,000 lower by mid-2026 than at the end of 2024, when it had reached almost 1.3 million. DNB’s analysis of labour-market data shows that this decline has mainly involved movement into other forms of work rather than a large increase in unemployment.
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The figures describe people who leave self-employment, including freelancers and other self-employed workers. They do not show whether each person left voluntarily, lost a contract, changed career plans or responded to enforcement of employment rules.
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How quickly do former freelancers find work?
More than half of people leaving self-employment find paid employment again within three months. DNB therefore describes the transition primarily as labour-market reallocation: people move from one employment status to another instead of remaining without work.
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| Outcome after leaving self-employment | DNB finding |
|---|---|
| Paid work within three months | More than half |
| Permanent job or role with a prospect of a permanent contract | About one-third |
| Flexible work | A similarly large group |
| Unemployment | 7% |
The permanent and flexible-work figures refer to broad groups, so they should not be added to produce a complete distribution. Some people also move into a new business with employees, another route DNB includes in its wider interpretation.
Do ex-self-employed workers become unemployed?
Only 7% of former self-employed workers become unemployed. DNB says this is comparable with previous years, rather than evidence of a sudden unemployment shock linked to the recent fall in self-employment.
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Unemployment is measured as the observed labour-market status in the data. The analysis does not assess how long any unemployment spell lasts, how much income changes, or whether a new job offers better or worse conditions than the person’s former freelance work.
How often do they switch sectors?
Among former self-employed workers who find new work, almost half enter a different sector. Nearly 40% are recorded in a different occupational category three months later.
DNB identifies healthcare and social care, government and education, and retail, transport and hospitality as prominent destination areas. It also finds relatively high movement between self-employment and employment in healthcare, construction, facility services and business services—fields where the boundary between genuine self-employment and employment is often debated.
A sector or occupation change in administrative data does not necessarily mean that someone has abandoned all previous skills. DNB cautions that classification differences can account for part of the measured movement; a worker may perform similar tasks for a different type of organisation or under a different job code.
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How does this compare with ordinary employee mobility?
DNB’s broader analysis of Statistics Netherlands (CBS) microdata covering 2011–2025 found that about 17% of employees change employer in a typical year. Of those job-to-job movers, 57% also change sector.
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These employee figures are not directly interchangeable with the three-month outcomes for people leaving self-employment: they use a different population, time frame and transition definition. They do show that sector changes are a regular feature of the Dutch labour market, not something unique to former freelancers.
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What the data cannot prove
- No cause-and-effect conclusion: DNB’s data do not establish that the end of the false-self-employment enforcement moratorium, or later enforcement, caused the fall in self-employment.
- No explanation for individual decisions: The dataset does not record why a person left self-employment.
- No quality-of-work measure: It does not show subsequent income, productivity, job security, hours or employment conditions.
- No complete account of skills: Statistical sector and occupation codes can make a transition look more dramatic than the underlying work actually is.
What this means for former freelancers
The practical message is mixed but clear. Finding paid work within three months is common, and the 7% unemployment figure is relatively low. However, a quick transition may involve flexible work rather than a permanent contract, and changing sectors can require new qualifications, different working conditions or a period of adjustment.
People planning a move should therefore assess the contract type, expected duration, benefits and income—not just whether a job offer arrives quickly. DNB’s destination-sector findings suggest that healthcare and social care, public services and education, and retail, transport and hospitality are important parts of the adjustment, while employment agencies and trade can serve as stepping stones into another sector.
The bottom line from DNB
DNB’s conclusion is that leaving self-employment mainly produces movement within the labour market rather than a larger flow into unemployment. Former freelancers commonly find work quickly, but that work is often in a different sector and may be flexible rather than permanent.
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