Do we have to worry about the ‘new’ solo self-employed? Selfsufficiency and precariousness among workers with different types of contract : Host Country Discussion Paper – The Netherlands

Over the past decades, the Dutch labour market has become more flexible and is now among the most flexible labour markets in Western Europe. The increase in flexible employment is especially marked among solo self-employed and on-call workers.
Transitions into permanent contracts have been decreasing and hybrid employment forms seem on the rise. The growth in flexible employment has been attributed to a mixture of underlying mechanisms; the current debate focuses largely on the impacts of globalisation, technological developments and institutions.
In this paper, the main challenges faced by flexible workers are analysed on three dimensions of precariousness: 1) income adequacy, 2) regulatory protection and social benefits and 3) certainty of continuing work. In terms of income adequacy, flexible workers in the Netherlands are more vulnerable to poverty than workers on permanent
contracts; especially solo self-employed and temporary agency workers relatively often seem to experience (long-term) income inadequacy. A pressing dimension of precariousness is the difference between employees and solo self-employed in terms of social protection - especially in terms of risk of sickness and disability. Regarding
certainty of continuing work there seems relatively broad consensus that training and employability of flexible employees and solo self-employed should be organised either universally or at the level of the individual worker, as the danger of substantial
underinvestment currently looms among these groups.
Thus far, policies have been mainly aimed at reducing the rift between permanent and flexible employees by trying to simulate the ‘stepping-stone’ function of flexible employment towards permanent employment and trying to combat bogus selfemployment;
whether the respective acts have been successful or have the potential to become successful is still debated. Considerations for future policies may include reflections on how to push back the higher levels of income inadequacy among flexible workers as compared to permanent workers, how to induce training among flexible workers and, perhaps most urgently, how to design adequate and desired forms of social protection for the solo self-employed.