1 in 5 young workers experience work-related stress
Of all young people between the ages of 15 and 25 in paid employment, 21 percent reported regular or frequent work-related stress in 2021. Young women were more likely to report this than young men (23 percent versus 18 percent, respectively). Last year, 71.7 percent of young people had paid work. This was reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) in the National Youth Monitor based on the Perceptions Survey and the Labour Force Survey.
At 9 percent, teenagers aged 15 to 17 years were less likely to experience regular work-related stress than young adults aged 18 to 24 years (24 percent). If teenagers are employed, this is usually in a part-time job. Consequently, young people with only a part-time job were less stressed about work than those working more than part-time: 11 percent versus 31 percent. Among the latter, those who reported regular or frequent work-related stress were mostly self-employed and freelancers.
High internal pressure often cause of work-related stress
Of all employed young people, 27 percent indicated that they sometimes or regularly experienced work-related stress because they expected too much from themselves. Being afraid to make mistakes (24 percent) and a high workload due to too much or overly difficult work (15 percent) were also cited relatively often as reasons for job stress. Young women in particular said they expected too much from themselves (32 percent), or were afraid of making mistakes (29 percent). By contrast, these reasons were cited less frequently by young men (21 percent and 19 percent, respectively).
Pandemic caused more work-related stress for quarter of young people
Of all 15 to 24-year-olds in paid work, 24 percent indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic had led to increased work stress. Another 29 percent reported the same amount of stress as before the pandemic, while 13 percent reported less stress. Young women in particular reported more work-related stress as a result of the pandemic compared to young men: 28 versus 20 percent.
More young people employed again
In 2021, 71.7 percent of young people between the ages of 15 and 25 were in paid employment. This indicates that youth labour force participation has largely recovered. There was still a decline at the start of the pandemic, with the participation rate dropping from 72.8 to 69.9 percent between 2019 and 2020. These figures have been compiled using a new measurement method, based on which CBS publishes data on labour force characteristics as of 2022.
Although the annual figure for 2021 does not yet allow the conclusion that youth labour force participation has fully returned to its pre-pandemic level, the latest monthly figures already indicate this. With a relatively strong increase in the youth labour force participation of 15 to 24-year-olds last year, the rate was again at 74.3 percent (seasonally adjusted) in January 2022. In January 2020, the youth labour force participation rate still stood at 73.6 percent.