More than 40 thousand Dutch cross-border workers

Last year, 0.8 percent of all people employed in the European Union (EU) were living in one EU country and working in another. The proportion of cross-border workers from the Netherlands was below the EU average. More than 40 thousand people living in the Netherlands were working abroad.

Marginal growth cross-border workers in EU

The number of cross-border workers has grown over the past half decade from 1.5 million to more than 1.8 million in 2013, i.e. 0.8 percent of the employed population in the EU. The rates were high in Slovakia (nearly 6 percent) and Estonia (nearly 4 percent). In the other EU countries, the proportion of cross-border workers was less than 2.5 percent. In the Netherlands, 43 thousand persons (0.5 percent of all persons employed) were working abroad.

Share cross-border workers from EU member states, 2013

Many cross-border commuters from Belgian border regions

The proportions of cross-border workers are relatively high in the Belgian provinces of Limburg and Liège: 5 and 3.5 percent respectively of all people employed in 2013. They are often Dutch nationals living in Belgium and working in the Netherlands. In the Dutch provinces of Zeeland and Limburg, approximately 2 percent were working across the border in 2013. The percentage of cross-border workers is low in the German border regions. Most cross-border workers came from Weser-Ems, adjacent to the Dutch provinces of Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel and from Düsseldorf.

Share cross-border workers from border regions in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, 2013

Marjolein Korvorst