Some 10% of the Dutch workforce has experienced discrimination while working over the past 12 months, according to research by statistics agency CBS.

The most common form of discrimination was being excluded on grounds of origin. This was an issue with nearly 22% of people who were not born in Europe and 19% of non-Dutch Europeans and manifested itself most often as being ignored or shut out by colleagues.

Some 16% of people born in the Netherlands but whose parents were born abroad also experienced discrimination.

Some 5.5% of discrimination cases involved threats, violence or aggressive behaviour from both colleagues and others, such as pupils or patients.

Women and people with chronic health conditions are also more likely to face discrimination at work.

To some extent the discrimination depends on the composition of the workforce in general, the CBS said.

Women are more likely to feel they have faced discrimination on the grounds of their sex in companies where men are dominant. Workers with ethnic minority roots are more likely to be picked on in companies with relatively few workers with origins abroad.

A summary of the research, a joint project with the TNO institute, was first published earlier this year.

In June, research by the OECD suggested 20% of the children of migrants face discrimination on the grounds of their race, skin colour or ethnicity but in the Netherlands, the figure is one in three.