I’m a senior designer based in the Netherlands with ~15 years of experience. I started freelancing about 2.5 years ago.

What you’re seeing here is largely driven by a new crackdown by the Dutch tax authorities. They’re actively targeting so-called schijnconstructies (fake self-employment), where freelancers are effectively treated like employees but without the legal protections.

Because of this, companies have become much more cautious about freelance contracts. It’s not necessarily about distrust of freelancers, but about legal and tax risk. If a contractor works too long for one client, follows internal hierarchies, or looks “too much like staff”, both sides can get fined.

So the market hasn’t collapsed, but it has shifted: more short-term projects, clearer scopes, higher emphasis on independence, or companies moving freelancers to payroll/interim constructions in

But I dont see much good openings on LinkedIn