131,000 fewer zzp'ers work in the Netherlands than at the 2024 peak
About 131,000 fewer self-employed people worked in the Netherlands in mid-2026 than at the end of 2024, but most who stopped quickly found other work, DNB says.
The number of self-employed people without staff (zzp'ers) in the Netherlands is falling for the first time in more than twenty years, according to De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). By mid-2026 there were about 131,000 fewer than at the end of 2024, when the number of people with a zzp job as their main job peaked at almost 1.3 million.
Since the peak, fewer people have started as zzp'ers and more have stopped. DNB says the outflow "hardly leads to more unemployment". More than half of those who stop have found paid work again within a quarter, and only 7% of former zzp'ers become unemployed, in line with previous years.
Some former zzp'ers start a business with staff. Many also change direction: almost half of those who find other work switch sector, relatively often to healthcare and welfare, government and education, and trade, transport and hospitality. Nearly 40% are in a different occupational group a quarter later. DNB cautions that this does not automatically mean entirely different work, because part of it may reflect how jobs are registered before and after the switch.
Enforcement and the decline
The decline coincides with the end, on 1 January 2025, of the enforcement moratorium on false self-employment (schijnzelfstandigheid). Since then the Belastingdienst, the Tax Administration, has actively checked again whether working relationships are classified correctly.
DNB says the figures cannot show whether stricter enforcement is the main cause, because the data hold no information on why zzp'ers stop. It sees indications, though: there is relatively much movement between self-employment and employment in healthcare, construction, facility services and business services, sectors where false self-employment is regularly debated.
About 12% of the working population still had a zzp job as their main job in mid-2026. DNB says a fall in the number of zzp'ers does not necessarily mean the labour market becomes less flexible. Its figures do not show how income, productivity or employment conditions develop after the switch.
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DNB (De Nederlandsche Bank)
The Dutch central bank. It is part of the European system of central banks and supervises banks, insurers and pension funds.
schijnzelfstandigheid
False self-employment is when someone is formally registered as self-employed (zzp'er) but in practice works under the conditions of an employee, for example with fixed hours, direction from the client, and a set pay arrangement. Dutch law treats such a working relationship as employment, which brings employee rights and obligations, including social insurance contributions. Checking whether a working relationship is classified correctly is an important part of the work of the Belastingdienst.
Belastingdienst
The Tax Administration is the Dutch government agency, part of the Ministry of Finance, that collects taxes and social insurance premiums and administers various allowances. It also checks whether working relationships are classified correctly, which determines whether a worker is treated as self-employed or as an employee. Its decisions affect both employers and the people who work for them.