The demand for logistics staff for distribution centres has risen by as much as 80 per cent over the past two years. Especially in North Brabant, the number of vacancies for distribution workers increased.
Job site Indeed compared the number of vacancies for positions in the distribution sector in the period from March 2016 to March 2018. Remarkably, while significantly more vacancies were posted during that period, the number of clicks on such vacancies increased by only 6 per cent during the same period.
Indeed expects the sector to continue to grow in the coming years. "The number of online shops, and thus the volume of purchases, is on the rise. You can see this particularly in the West Brabant region, which has been the logistics hotspot in our country for many years. Due to the favourable establishment conditions in the Netherlands, many companies are also active on the Dutch-Belgian border," says Sander Poos, Managing Director of Indeed Benelux.
Seeking staff for night shifts
Within the distribution sector, companies appear to be mainly looking for warehouse employees (35.1 per cent). Logistics workers (22.9 percent), order pickers (13.3 percent), forklift drivers (11.2 percent) and co-drivers (four percent) are also in high demand. Poos: "Some of those employees work at night. The reason for this is that online shops are offering faster and faster deliveries. To ensure that consumers receive an ordered product the very next day, the warehouses of online shops and delivery services increasingly need staff to process orders at night."
North Brabant has most vacancies
Of all Dutch provinces, North Brabant has the highest demand for distribution centre employees, Indeed data shows. Over a quarter (25.4 per cent) of all vacancies in this province this year are from this sector. After North Brabant, employees in this sector are in high demand in South Holland (17.7 per cent) and Gelderland (13.5 per cent).
Besides North Brabant, there has also been an increase in distribution centres in other southern and eastern provinces. XXL distribution centres in particular are shooting up there. 36 superwarehouses have been added in the last five years, and this is only expected to increase in the coming years.
