Employment and Industrial Relations in the Hotels and Restaurants

The horeca sector is a small, dynamic sector of the Dutch economy. It is a vulnerable sector. Nearly 90% of companies are small and employ less than 10 employees. The collective labour agreement, which is extended to the whole sector, comes close to legal minimum standards. The economic crisis has had a major impact on the sector. Since 2009 the sector has shrunken by 30.000 jobs. With the sector producing mainly for the internal market the crisis is being felt over a longer period. The sector has a bad imago. Many young employees seem not very enthusiastic to remain working in the sector. The social partners are in co-operation trying to improve working conditions and to make career possibilities more transparent. The expected shortage of personnel might give an impetus to change.