The number of Polish nationals coming to the Netherlands via staffing agencies has gone down sharply over the past three years, according to sector umbrella group ABU.

Three years ago, 91% of foreign workers employed by temporary employment agencies came from Poland, but they now account for 65% of the 70,000 total, ABU said in a statement on Sunday.

At the same time, there has been a corresponding increase in people from Germany, Spain and Portugal finding jobs in the Netherlands through an agency. Around 130 of the Netherlands’ 500 temporary employment agencies recruit abroad.

Romania

The ABU research also showed very few agencies are preparing to bring in large numbers of people from Bulgaria and Romania when the jobs market becomes fully open to them, ABU said.

This is worrying because Bulgarian and Romanian nationals may end up in the hands of illegal or unregistered agencies, ABU’s social affairs director Jurriën Koops said.

Koops said he will raise his concerns with social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher during Monday’s summit on labour migration within the EU.