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The number of non-EU nationals who were granted a Dutch work permit saw a sharp increase last year.
According to the data from the state jobs agency UWV, a total of 20,172 work permits were granted to labour migrants and working students from countries outside of the EU in 2024, excluding highly-skilled workers, Schengen.News reports.
Such a number represents a 12 per cent increase compared to 2013 and suggests that the country is in need of more foreign workers to be able to maintain its economy.
However, as Dutch News explains, the figures do not include foreigners working in the Netherlands via a highly skilled migrant visa for at least three months as permits for this group of foreigners are granted by the IND.
On the other hand, Dutch companies that want to hire employees for low-skilled jobs from outside the EU need to secure these permits from the UWV. Since the number of permits granted by UWV for non-EU workers has increased, concerns have been raised about the potential deepening of the labour shortages.
Work Permits for Asylum Seekers Quadrupled Compared to 2023
Data show that a large number of asylum seekers were beneficiaries of work permits granted by UWV in 2024. UWV issued 9,281 work permits to asylum seekers in 2024, which is four times more than in 2023.
As NL Times explains, the increase in the number of permits for asylum seekers comes after a restriction that permitted this group of foreigners to work only 24 weeks per year was removed.
This restriction was lifted at the end of 2023 and following this change, a significantly higher number of asylum seekers expressed interest in working more hours during the week, with them mainly being employed in the hospitality and agricultural sectors, among others.
Netherlands’ Labour Market Will Remain Tight, Specialist Says
Commenting on the current situation, Leontine Treur who is a labour market specialist at Rabobank, said that the Netherlands has a tight labour market that is expected to remain so in the next years, NL Times explains.
According to Treur, due to this, the demand for labour migrants will continue to remain high.
At the same time, Treur emphasised that there is a low unemployment rate in the Netherlands, meaning that only a small number of domestic workers can fill vacancies and the others need to be filled by foreign workers.
Source: https://schengen.news/netherlands-granted-over-20000-work-permits-to-non-eu-migrants-asylum-seekers-in-2024/
