Less than half of Dutch job listings contain information about salary

New European regulations will soon oblige employers to provide job applicants with information about their salary before the first interview. Currently, only 48 percent of job vacancy listings in the Netherlands include a salary indication, the Volkskrant reports based on figures from job site Indeed.

Most vacancy listings include only a vague description such as “competitive” salary, “market-rate,” or “good remuneration.” And the listings that do say something about the salary rarely state the exact amount. Employers more often provide an indication of only the upper or lower limit.

That will soon change. The European Wage Transparency Directive makes it mandatory for job applicants to have information about the salary they can expect when they go for their first interview. The directive also bans employers from asking applicants what they earned in their previous position. The EU hopes to combat wage discrimination and help close the gender wage gap with this measure.

Member states have until June 7 to change their legislation. In the Netherlands, the new rules will likely take effect on January 1, 2027. The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, will debate the bill later this month.

In the Netherlands, social services, childcare, and nursing are the most transparent with their wages, the Indeed data shows. Over 80 percent of job listings in these sectors contain a salary indication, at 85 percent, 82.4 percent, and 82.4 percent, respectively.

Data analysts (9.9%), retail employees (17.1%), and dentists (26.7%) hardly ever see salary information in their job listings.

In general, the job site found that listings for low-paid jobs contain more information about remuneration than those for high-paid positions.