Enforcement against false self-employment leads to 138,000 fewer self-employed professionals, but not to more permanent jobs.

Since the lifting of the enforcement moratorium, the number of self-employed professionals offering their own services has fallen by 138,000. That represents a decline of 12.6 percent in just a year and a half. The decline that the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) expected for 2025 and 2026 combined has already been exceeded. Yet this outflow has hardly resulted in more permanent jobs. Former self-employed professionals are more likely to move into temporary employment, while the demand for flexible work remains strong. This is according to the report The New Reality of Self-Employment, produced by ZiPconomy in collaboration with HeadFirst and ONL voor Ondernemers. The study is based on data from sources including Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KVK), and provides insight into the effects of self-employment policies introduced by successive Dutch governments.

A historic shift in the trend

For almost thirty years, the number of self-employed professionals grew virtually every quarter, regardless of economic conditions. Since the beginning of 2025, this group has declined quarter after quarter. In the second quarter of 2026, the Netherlands had 953,000 self-employed professionals offering their own services, accounting for 9.7 percent of the employed working population. At the end of 2024, this share was still 11.1 percent. The rate of decline has now started to slow, but remains substantial.

The decline itself says little, emphasizes Allard van Dam, Country Manager at HeadFirst. "If the number of self-employed professionals declines, does that mean labour market policy is succeeding? It sounds like a simple question, but the answer is not. Fewer self-employed professionals does not automatically mean more permanent jobs."

Flexibility is not disappearing, but shifting

Total employment has grown by just 37,000 people since the end of 2024. Behind this figure lies a significant shift:

• The number of employees with permanent contracts increased by 2.1 percent.
• The internal flexible workforce grew more than twice as fast (+4.9 percent). This includes temporary employees, on-call workers and stand-in workers.
• The number of temporary agency workers and seconded professionals fell by 29,000. Their share of the labour market, at 3.4 percent, is the lowest this century.

CBS figures on transitions between employment positions confirm this picture. Among self-employed professionals who stop working independently but remain employed, a larger share moves into flexible employment than into permanent jobs. At the same time, the overall flexible workforce remained virtually unchanged at 37.6 percent of the employed working population.

"The external flexible workforce has clearly become smaller, but the overall demand for flexibility has barely changed," says Wim Davidse, Director Trends & Insights at ZiPmedia and one of the report's authors. "Employers are now mainly bringing that flexibility in-house through temporary contracts and on-call workers." According to Davidse, the figures also show that, contrary to what might be expected, temporary agency work and secondment have not increased.

Young people and education hit hardest

The decline in the number of self-employed professionals varies significantly by occupational group. The sharpest declines occurred in education (-17.3 percent), technical occupations (-16.5 percent), and creative and language-related occupations (-15.7 percent). There are also major differences by age. The number of self-employed professionals under 35 fell by almost 30 percent, while the number aged 55 and over actually increased.

The desire to work independently remains strong

Notably, the share of self-employed professionals who would prefer to work as employees has remained stable for years, at around 10 to 12 percent. This is shown by research from labour market data agency Intelligence Group and is consistent with figures from CBS/TNO and self-employed platform Knab. Despite the significant outflow, this share has not declined.

For co-author of the report and ZiPconomy founder Hugo-Jan Ruts, this is a telling signal. "You would expect the share of self-employed professionals who would rather become employees to decline now that so many self-employed professionals have stopped working independently. That is not happening. The figures suggest that a large part of the outflow consists of people who would actually have preferred to remain self-employed."

The number of new self-employed registrations with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KVK) is also continuing to rise. In the second quarter of 2026, 44,766 new self-employed professionals registered, 6 percent more than a year earlier. This provides further evidence that the desire to work as a self-employed professional has not diminished despite enforcement.

How should policy be assessed?

According to Van Dam, the figures mainly show that the discussion around self-employment policy needs to be broader. "Labour market policy should not be assessed based on reducing one specific form of work. The question is whether people can participate sustainably in the labour market in a way that suits their talents, ambitions and circumstances."

Erik Ziengs, Chairman of ONL voor Ondernemers, adds: "These facts and figures provide valuable insight into developments in the labour market. We will therefore bring the findings of this research to the attention of politicians and policymakers in the coming period."