Dutch freelance assignments drop 42% in two years

Companies are hiring far fewer freelancers and seconded professionals than eighteen months ago. Since the Dutch tax office began cracking down on false self-employment, the flexible market for highly educated professionals has been shrinking, and finding an assignment has become a fight.

Rates, however, are not coming down.

The number of assignments for independent professionals has fallen by no less than 42 percent since the end of 2024, according to the annual trend report from HR services provider HeadFirst and labour market data specialist Intelligence Group.

Fighting harder for work

Demand has dropped considerably faster than supply, even though tens of thousands of freelancers and seconded workers have stopped or returned to salaried employment over the past year and a half.

Of the roughly 775,000 highly educated Dutch professionals, 18 percent worked independently at the end of June, down from 22 percent at the end of 2024.

The average freelancer has to find a new assignment six or seven times a year, says Geert-Jan Waasdorp, labour market expert and founder of Intelligence Group. When that keeps failing, or a new assignment takes too long to arrive, people start counting their options.

Clients have tightened their contracts, changed their hiring policies and shrunk their flexible workforce in response to the stricter tax inspections, Waasdorp notes.

Government work is the most crowded

Competition is fiercest at the national government, where supply outstrips demand five to one. Freelancers face the least oversight there, enjoy privileges such as working from home, and the government pays an average of 111 euros per hour.

At the same time, the number of assignments is falling: the share of flexible workers at the national government has dropped from 13 percent in mid-2025 to 11 percent now.

Local and provincial government cut deeper: from 13 percent four years ago to 7 percent now. Only 4 percent of professionals there would consider salaried employment.

The energy sector tells a different story. Its share of freelancers fell from 25 to 11 percent, but its total workforce has grown sharply, partly because many flexible workers proved willing to take permanent contracts.

In financial services, the flexible workforce shrank from 28 to 18 percent, though most professionals want to stay: rates there sit above the average hourly rate of 104 euros.

Rates keep rising

In logistics, transport and production, the share of flexible workers actually grew from 8 percent in 2022 to 12 percent now, while assignments are falling faster than in any other sector. It is the only industry where rates are not rising.

HeadFirst and Intelligence Group warn clients not to assume they are getting cheaper labour: freelance hourly rates continue to rise with inflation.

A business or organisational consultant costs an average of 119.30 euros per hour, a network specialist 115.66 euros, and a database designer 121.41 euros per hour.

Source: De Telegraaf