Non-EU labour migrants are often male knowledge migrants

© ANP / Panos Pictures
At the end of 2021, 87 thousand labour migrants from countries outside the European Union or European Free Trade Association (Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland and Sweden) were residing in the Netherlands. This group consisted largely of men (71 percent) and was relatively young: 67 percent were under the age of 40. Slightly more than half of the labour migrants from non-EU/EFTA countries came from Asia. This is reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on the basis of new figures on labour migration.

Nearly half (46 percent) of these labour migrants were knowledge migrants. These are highly-educated workers who have been recruited by Dutch employers. A smaller group stayed in the Netherlands as part of a scheme for scientific researchers or were transferred within a company established outside the EU/EFTA to a branch in the Netherlands as Intra-Corporate Transferees (ICTs).

Most labour migrants working in business services

The majority of all non-EU/EFTA labour migrants were working in the services sector. Most of them were employed in business services (24 percent), for example in technical or financial consulting firms. Relatively many labour migrants (23 percent) were also working in the information and communication sector, especially in the development, production and publication of software. The sector trade, transport and accommodation and food services employed 21 percent. Sectors with the lowest numbers of non-EU/EFTA labour migrants were culture and recreation, construction, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and real estate activities.

Of the labour migrants in paid employment, 94 percent had a contract for 30 hours per week or more. Women (51 percent) and man (55 percent) were almost equally likely to work full-time (35 hours per week or more).

Majority of labour migrants residing in Amstelveen

Municipalities where proportionally most labour migrants from outside the EU/EFTA were living are Amstelveen (57 per thousand inhabitants), Eindhoven (28 per thousand inhabitants) and Amsterdam (23 per thousand inhabitants). In all cities with a university, the number of labour migrants is relatively high. These are municipalities with many employment opportunities for highly-educated people.

Mainly accompanied by female family migrants

In 2021, over 58 thousand partners and children of labour migrants from non-EU/EFTA countries stayed in the Netherlands. The majority of these family migrants were women (70 percent). Forty percent were children living at home.

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