Some 380,000 contract workers have no buffer if they lose their job: audit office

The national audit office said on Wednesday that some 380,000 contract workers in the Netherlands do not have enough money to support themselves if they lost their jobs. In total one in five people who work on a flexible, zero hours or call-out contract have less than €1,000 in their bank account and do not have a partner who could support them, the audit office says in a new report. ‘It is precisely these employees, who work on temporary contracts or earn their money as a temporary or on-call worker, who need such a buffer the most,’ the audit office said. ‘They are also more likely to be faced with periods of unemployment than the 4.8 million people who have a permanent employment contract.’ Some 1.9 million people have some form of flexible contract, the audit office said.