More people are taking on freelance jobs while working at the same time permanently in the same or another field, according to researchers at ABN Amro bank.  

The continuing labour shortage, with more vacancies than people willing or able to do the jobs, has given workers more bargaining power, the bank said. 

“This is true, for instance, in negotiations on salary and fringe benefits in which employees can make increasing demands,” the bank said.

“But self-employment is also more attractive in a tight labour market because people have a relatively high chance of winning assignments. And if it does not work, they easily find another permanent job.”

The bank quotes research by TNO which shows 6.3% of employees in permanent employment are also self-employed. That means almost 340,000 people are working as both staffers and freelancers at the same time. 

“With Generation Z entering the labour market in the next decade, the call for autonomy and variation will grow stronger and this trend will continue,” the report said. “Employers looking for staff, have no choice but to be flexible.”

In the healthcare sector, for example, some 25% of freelance carers are thought to have a permanent job elsewhere.

However, research by national statistics agency CBS suggests 13% of people in more fluid working relationships do so because they could not survive financially without the additional work.