As shown in Figure 11, many companies in the aviation industry have maintained a recruitment freeze for several years now because of the crisis.
Figure 11: Number of vacancies advertised per 100 jobs at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol relative to the Netherlands. Source: Regioplan
Since 2008, the number of job vacancies advertised by Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has been (well) below the national average, which is typical of the aviation industry as a whole. However, the fact that Schiphol’s job growth has always been higher than the Dutch average (see also Figure 3) since 2000 (except for 2008, due to the introduction of the air travel tax) speaks of the exceptionally small number of people leaving the aviation industry. Whereas an annual staff turnover of 5% to 15% is common in other sectors, in the aviation industry (with the exception of security firms) it is below 1%.
Between 2008 and 2012, the companies operating at Schiphol mentioned in this Job Market Analysis (excluding the security firms and companies providing passenger services) advertised a mere 1,331 vacancies between them. Compared with an average working population of 40,308 employees over the same period, this equates to an intake of less than 0.6% a year. The problems arising from this situation include an almost complete loss of contact with a new generation of (potential) employees, i.e. students who have completed an aviation-related study programme and are keen to work in the sector, but are unable to find a job there; and a significant increase in the average age of employees at the airport, which has been above the national average for four years now.