Trains that do not run according to the timetable or that still fail at the last minute and planes that depart from Schiphol without suitcases. There have been no exceptions in recent weeks where a lack of staff is often used as a weak excuse to explain it. Where it was said last year that the corona crisis would lead to many bankruptcies and mass unemployment, today we notice that the staff shortage is so great that cooks have to be brought from Spain en masse to open the doors of the catering industry.

Currently, 83% of builders are faced with staff shortages, and now that the economic recovery is in full swing, the scarcity of goods is on top of that. Car manufacturers stop production due to lack of chips. Instead of an unprecedented wave of layoffs and rise in unemployment that the newspapers opened last year, we find that many economists were wrong. Far too low wages and poor working conditions are often the root of the problems. So much so that Eastern Europeans are also thanking them for the jobs offered in some sectors.

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a 'new' crisis threatens the labor market

Grid operator Alliander is unable to connect new households to the power grid due to a shortage of staff in some Amsterdam neighbourhoods. The Central Bureau of Statistics had not so few unemployed people in twenty years. The corona crisis has started a true musical musical chairs and staff without permanent contracts who ended up without work have started to do other work en masse. In the hard-hit sectors that are now allowed to open again, they are left empty-handed because the wages in these sectors are not really cooperating to win back their own employees.

Offering work in the middle of the summer holiday is not the most ideal time of the year and, moreover, there are still workers who are paid on the couch with the NOW wage subsidy. Some economists therefore argue in favor of stopping the support immediately so that this group can get back to work immediately. But perhaps the biggest problem is that there is a massive exodus in some sectors and not only helping hands but also a lot of knowledge has left the sector. Personnel from, for example, the event industry who no longer receive a wage subsidy and start working in healthcare is not a solution for that sector. Companies will soon lose a lot of valuable time looking for employees and knowledge when they can open again.

Viggo baggage workers were fired six months ago because there was no work. They now want to return, but that will happen under better working conditions. In many sectors that are now suffering from a shortage of personnel, wages are too low and working conditions are poor. The staff is asked to work alternating morning, night and evening shifts, and many no longer want to combine that with their private lives. 

Also read: Threat of major staff shortage in taxi sector

The cause of the problems is said to be the shortage of staff at the baggage handlers.
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