A comparison of pension-relevant preferences, traits, skills, and attitudes between the Dutch self-employed and employees

“The Self-employed are a diverse group but also show similarities with employees”

The group of self-employed persons in the Netherlands is diverse and growing. Meeting their pension needs requires knowledge of their pension-related characteristics and how these differ from employees. This extensive exploratory analysis looks at three categories of self-employed, namely solo self-employed, self-employed with personnel, and owner-manager. It compared them with employees as well as with each other.

Key Takeaways for the Industry

• Generalizing employee characteristics to the self-employed maybe warranted for the many characteristics where no differences are found.
• The lower trust in institutions of the solo self-employed is an important reason for lower pension savings.