80 thousand workers live in Belgium and Germany

According to a study by Statistics Netherlands published this week, around 80 thousand people who work in the Netherlands travel from Belgium and Germany to do so. The main places of work are Maastricht, Enschede, Venlo, Sittard-Geleen and Eindhoven.

Just over 40 thousand people who work in the Netherlands live in Germany. Most of them work in municipalities just across the border. This group includes Germans and Dutch people resident in Germany. One in three work in business services. Nearly one quarter of them work in the province of Overijssel (24 percent), one quarter in Limburg and nearly a quarter in Gelderland. Much smaller percentages work in Groningen (2 percent) and Drenthe (4 percent). Most of them work in municipalities very near the border: 3 to 5 thousand workers in Enschede and Venlo, for example, live in Germany.

Commuters from Germany by municipality of work, December 2012

Around the same number of workers come from Belgium. Forty percent of the around 40 thousand workers coming in from Belgium work in Limburg and 38 percent in North Brabant. Only very few work in Zeeland. Most of them work in Maastricht: more than 8 thousand Belgians or Dutch residents of Belgium. Just over 2 thousand workers travel from Belgium to Eindhoven and Sittard-Geleen. Manufacturing is the main sector for workers commuting from Belgium.

Commuters from Belgium by municipality of work, December 2012

Statistics on cross-border workers

The figures in this release refer to December 2012, and are the results of a first explorative study of cross-border commuting, carried out at the request of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment.