Almost a third of employers in the Netherlands are being hampered in their business activities by staff shortages, a labour market update from staffing agency Randstad Groep Nederland has shown.

The number of businesses struggling with a lack of staff has increased compared to the previous quarter for the first time in two years, Randstad said. The problem is particularly pressing in the service industry where over half of businesses can’t find enough workers.

The number of vacancies currently stands at 414,000, slightly down on the all-time high of 500,000 of April 2022. Logistic, technical and sales and marketing staff as well as transport workers are among the most needed, the report said, while demand for new workers in the IT sector has gone down.

The tight labour market has prompted a rise in fixed contracts, with over 5.5 million people on regular contracts compared to 2.7 million on temporary contracts.

The number of youngsters looking for a holiday job has also gone down, Randstad found. The reason for this is that many young people are already in work, Randstad labour market expert Bart van Krimpen told Nu.nl.

“We are in the middle of the holiday work peak, with jobs opening up in retail, bars, cleaning and logistics,” he said. Home care organisations in particular are advertising for people to cover the holiday period, Van Krimpen said.

There has been a slight downturn in the demand for holiday workers over the last few years, probably because more youngsters are working a steady job in addition to studying, which would include holiday cover,  he said.