December 6, 2021

Employment in the Netherlands in 2021: More startup jobs than ever before

How did the employment market change throughout 2021? Which Dutch regions and industry sectors have generated the highest number of jobs this year? And what employee skill sets are most sought-after by Dutch startups? Together with Dealroom and CBRE, we’ve assessed how the Dutch startup employment landscape has changed throughout 2021. The 3rd edition of our yearly employment report covers the emerging trends within the Dutch employment scene and breaks down the job growth distribution across industries and provinces. Here are some key highlights we’ve pointed out from this report.

More startup jobs in 2021 than ever before

With over 11,000 startups, the Dutch startup ecosystem currently generates over 130K local jobs across every province. This is 10K net new jobs, compared to pre-pandemic levels, and in spite of slower hirings in the first part of 2020 (see the 2020 report). Notably, younger companies (founded before 2005) remain the biggest employers in the Dutch startup and scaleup ecosystem.

Startups in the Netherlands currently generate 130K jobs, with younger companies adding most of the new positions

A competition for the best talent toughens up

More companies are joining the race for talents across a variety of roles. Startups aren’t just looking for tech jobs, such as engineers and developers. In fact, most roles currently open are in functions including sales, business development, legal, HR or customer support.

Distributed growth across Dutch provinces

Jobs are created right across the country. The vast majority of startup jobs, as well as newly-created jobs, are located outside of the Amsterdam Hub and the wider North-Holland Province. Groningen in the North, and Brabant in the South of the Netherlands, stand out as two of the best-performing provinces when it comes to job growth.

Emerging trends: a new generation of startups is on horizon

Based on Dealroom’s coverage of impact startups, it now appears that over 7% of all startup jobs are generated by just 1% (or 550) impact-driven Dutch startups. Parallel to this, a new generation of former employees of Dutch tech behemoths-turned entrepreneurs is leading a wave of job-creating startups across the country. This spillover effect is a sign of a maturing ecosystem, where talents are nurtured and supported on their journey to entrepreneurship.

A new generation of startups is emerging as former employees of Dutch tech behemots turn to entrepreneurship

Download full report for free

Which sector secured most jobs within the Dutch ecosystem in 2021? How did COVID-19 affect the job market growth? Where do the opportunities lie in hiring the best talent? And how did we collect the data for this report?

Download the report

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Techleap is a non-profit organisation, funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, helping to quantify and accelerate the tech-ecosystem of the Netherlands. Constantijn van Oranje is Special Envoy of Techleap.