The current economy of Amsterdam

Economy as the engine of Amsterdam Sorting Machine ​

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The main reason to come to Amsterdam is work. Amsterdam's economy has been doing well since 2015, it is a magnet for newcomers. It's an interaction; their presence allows the economy to develop further. This economic dynamic is the driving force behind the enormous influx of new residents, both from home and abroad. Amsterdam has traditionally had a very varied economy, from industry to the financial sector and from trade to culture. Not every sector attracts the same number of newcomers and has the same advantages; some sectors pay very well and some very poorly, some offer permanent places and some temporary. This chapter takes a closer look at the various sectors in the Amsterdam economy and their significance for Amsterdam's functioning as a sorting machine. It is crucial for Amsterdam's economic position that it is able to attract the best talent from home and abroad. Many of the new international economic activities compete worldwide for talent: "The war on talent".

Both the national government (ministry of economic affairs) and the local government, including the 'Amsterdam Economic Board', have an active economic policy with which they try to stimulate economic development.

 

As long as Amsterdam is doing well economically, it will attract many people from outside Amsterdam. This makes the economy the engine of the sorting machine: the economy ensures the large influx and is also one of the most important selection mechanisms to stay in Amsterdam. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

 

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​"Amsterdam has never attracted so few new foreign companies, with American companies in particular failing to show up"​

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A headline in Het Parool on March 24, 2025 reads. Amsterdam is attracting fewer and fewer foreign companies. In 2024, only 49 international companies established themselves in the region, a significant decrease compared to previous years. American companies in particular are staying away, partly due to the economic course of the US and the Dutch government. Since 2022, Amsterdam's recruitment policy has focused primarily on sustainable and innovative companies, which seems to limit the number of newcomers. Factors such as the housing crisis, an overloaded power grid and reduced tax benefits also play a role. The city is still attracting companies in sectors such as sustainability and medtech, but the total number of establishments and jobs is lagging behind previous years. The declining influx of expats emphasizes this trend (Stil, 2025).​​​​​​

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​​This seems to correspond with the decrease in the number of international settlers who - according to the preliminary figures of the CBS - came to live in Amsterdam in 2024. The question is whether the attractiveness of Amsterdam for international settlers decreases when fewer foreign companies settle here. Or whether the connection between the settlement of foreign companies and internationals is less strong. A decrease in the inflow may create a little more air in the housing market.

 

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Economic sectors

Amsterdam has grown as a trading city. With the VOC and the exchange bank, Amsterdam became the financial center of Europe. This economic boom meant progress in many different ways. On a cultural level, but also in shipbuilding and industry. Today, the Amsterdam economy has new forms, but it still has many different sectors.

 

Industry

     Shipyards

In Amsterdam North there are still two shipyards: Shipyard and Oranjewerf. They employ almost a thousand people.

 

     VanMoof and Qwic

Both E-bike companies are bankrupt. The parts could no longer be supplied from Taiwan and China, partly due to customs and import duties. The E-bike market has collapsed; the demand turned out to be too small. So even if the economy is doing well, companies will constantly go bankrupt and new ones will emerge. ​

 

     Creative tech

At the beginning of 2021, Amsterdam has 12,000 creative technology companies with approximately 24,000 employees (Het Parool, February 6, 2021). There are many types of tech companies: fintech, health-tech, sports-tech, etc. and therefore also 'creative' tech. ​

 

     TomTom

Manufacturer of navigation systems

The head office on the Oosterdok

Now almost 1000 employees

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     EVbox

An originally Dutch company that produces charging stations

Market value of 1 billion dollars on the New York stock exchange

Head office in Amsterdam West

More than 500 employees

 

 

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Transport

     Port of Amsterdam

Management, operation and development of the Amsterdam harbor

The Municipality of Amsterdam is the sole shareholder

About 70,000 people work in the Amsterdam port region ​

 

     Schiphol

Airport in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer

The third busiest airport in the European Union

Shareholders are the Dutch state, the municipalities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam and Group ADP

Approximately 65,000 employees

 

 

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Finances

Investing, shares, banks

 

     The stock exchange

Amsterdam has been the largest stock exchange city in Europe since January 1, 2021.

Consequence of Brexit.

This concerns stock exchange trading in both shares and options, commodity markets, emission markets, etc.

Mainly concerns digital trading outside the AEX and other physical stock exchanges.

Still finding out how many physical jobs are involved. ​

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Fintech

 

   Adyen

Amsterdam Fintech company

Processing digital payment transactions for major players,

including Booking.com and AirBnB.

The former Hudson Bay building on Rokin has been converted

into a new head office.

Market value above 1 billion, now (February 2024) 50 billion euros

Adyen now employs around 1900 people in Amsterdam.

 

     Bunq

Was the 1st digital bank in the Netherlands around 2014.

Amsterdam company, located in Sloterdijk Center.                                       

Market value above 1 billion euros

488 employees

 

     Mollie

Amsterdam company for payment services, mainly SME.

Located on the Keizersgracht

By investor group in summer 2021, market value increased to 5.4 billion euros.

More than 600 employees

 

     Back base

Services to banks

Oostenburg

Employees: almost 100

 

     Ticketswap

Dutch company that arranges the online buying and selling of tickets

Located on the Rokin

Approximately 170 employees

 

San Francisco, the world’s leading FinTech center, had collapsed during COVID: most offices were empty. With the rise of AI bots, investments returned and the economy recovered. In Amsterdam, FinTech survived; the Amsterdam economy is much more diverse and therefore less vulnerable. It is part of a dynamic economy that companies go bankrupt and new ones are created.

 

 

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Business services

     Notaries, accountants and lawyers ​

In 2024, 1,663 notaries are active in Amsterdam, working in 181 notary offices (notaris.in, 2024).

In the same year, almost 400 accounting firms were established in Amsterdam (accountantkantoorgids, 2024).

In 2023, Amsterdam counts 6,225 lawyers (Nederlandse orde van advocaten, January 5, 2023).

 

     MessageBird

Amsterdam tech company; provides software for companies to connect with customers.

In April 2021 she took over a USA industry pleasure, as a result, its market value rose to more than 1 billion euros.

In 2021 700 employees, of which 450 in Amsterdam.

Company grew too fast, writes CEO Robert Vis, and will lay off almost a third of its staff in 2022.

Now around 800 employees in the entire company

 

     Oracle

Works in Amsterdam with Microsoft in iCloud services

Development and support services

Number of employees: 450

Large office on Nieuwe Vaart, in front of the Maritime Museum next to Kadijksplein ​

 

     WeTransfer

Amsterdam company with download and upload service for sending large files on the internet

Head office on Keizersgracht

In 2022, the company announced that it wanted to list on the Amsterdam stock exchange, they expect a market value of around 700 billion euros

80 employees in Amsterdam

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     Nomobo 

Streaming service

Sloterdijk

70 employees ​ ​

 

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Knowledge and research institutes

     Shell

Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam (ETCA), one of Shell's three largest research centers

Located in Amsterdam-Noord, next to the IJ

About 1000 employees ​

 

     VU

4,671 employees in 2022

32% international scientific staff ​

 

     UvA

5,776 employees in 2022

45% international scientific staff

(31% international employees, of the total) ​

 

                                                                                                                               

Distribution centers

     Flash deliverers

Amsterdam experienced an explosion of quick retail food delivery services in 2021-2022 with Gorillas (German), Flink (German), Getir (Turkish), Zapp (English). In the heyday, several thousand 'riders' rode through Amsterdam for these companies. This sector has now largely disappeared: Zapp has left the Netherlands, Gorrilas has been taken over by Getir and the Municipality of Amsterdam has introduced strict rules for this sector, as a result of which most distribution centers are now closed. There are only a few hundred 'riders' driving through the city as fast delivery vehicles. Just as quickly as they entered Amsterdam, they flew away just as quickly. In the economic dynamics of Amsterdam, thousands of riders quickly lost their jobs. Where the mostly foreign riders now work and live is unknown. A clear example of Amsterdam as A City of Comings and Goings (Crimson, 2019).

 

     Picnic

Food delivery service (competitor of AH Delivery Service)

Currently 10 distribution centers and active in the Netherlands, Germany and France

Head office in Overamstel

Opened a new distribution center in Zaandam in spring 2021 (next to AH) where 500 employees work, Amsterdam households are supplied from this distribution center

 

     Albert Heijn

In recent years, it has opened several mega distribution centers on the outskirts of Amsterdam, from which Amsterdam households are served. The largest is located at the back of the Western Docklands, where many hundreds of mainly Eastern European employees work in the warehouses.

At the beginning of 2024, when the new government is being formed, there was mentioned that distribution centers will be severely restricted, the reason being that many foreigners work there

 

     Just Eat Takeaway ​

One of the largest food ordering sites in the world

International head office on the Piet Heinkade on the IJ

More than 1000 employees in Amsterdam, out of 8000 employees worldwide

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Head offices

     From the Netherlands:

Philips - the company has around 11,000 employees in the Netherlands,

but is cutting 10% of its Dutch jobs due to a reorganization.

The head office in Amsterdam is also cutting a number of jobs and will be moved

from the Amstel station to the Zuidas in 2025 (RTL news, January 30, 2023).

AkzoNobel - a Dutch multinational with activities such as painting and varnishing.

Spread over 4 factories and the head office on the Zuidas, 2,600 people work

in the Netherlands (Stil, 2024).

Mojo ​- events agency that will be located in Amsterdam South-East from                                                   

January 2024, with 150 employees (MOJO, n.d.).

Ice Cream Division Unilever - 450 employees, international headquarters from Rotterdam to Amsterdam in the summer of 2025 
Sabic - chemical giant is preparing to move its headquarters from Sittard to Amsterdam 
Arcadis - engineering firm is now (2024-2025) relocating to Amsterdam from Amersfoort, with 36 thousand employees in more than 30 countries

 

     European headquarters of Asian and American companies, partly as a result of Brexit

Uber – with 1,500 employees in Amsterdam, 225 of whom had to leave at the beginning of 2021

Uber Eats falls under this; delivery drivers are not included in the mentioned employees;

Netflix – with 500 employees in Amsterdam

EMA - (European Union medicines agency) also came to Amsterdam as a result of Brexit. ​ ​

VaynerMedia - 25 employees, communications company headquartered in New York and with an office in Amsterdam since 2023. 
 

     Transnational corporations 
Prosus - more than 21 thousand employees worldwide, global headquarters in Amsterdam since 2020, investments in tech (AI) and platform economy (Just Eat Takeaway)

 

 

Platform economy

     Booking.com

Bookings of hotels in particular, an important player worldwide.

Originally an Amsterdam company, acquired in 2006 by the

American Priceline.

The stock market value has been above 1 billion euros for some time

6,500 employees in Amsterdam, since summer 2023 in its

"glass tech palace" on the Oosterdok. ​ ​

 

     Uber (Eats)

European headquarters on the Zuidas

1500 employees

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Leisure industry                                                                                        

     Horeca

In Amsterdam, 58,630 people work in the Horeca industry in the year 2022. Restaurants have the largest share of employees in this sector. Most jobs are located in the center, approximately 38% (O&S, 2022).

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     Gyms

In recent years, Amsterdam has been adding a number of new, relatively expensive, gyms, some of which call themselves a 'boutique gym'. A couple of these gyms are Saints & Stars, David Lloyd and Rocycle.

 

    Game companies

Guerrilla - (Sony) software company

approximately 450 people, of which approximately 45% are Dutch. Sold to Sony years ago. Will move into a beautiful office at Nieuwe Zijds Voorburgwal (vml Telegraafgebouw) in 2021 ​ ​

And others: Little Chicken Game Company BV, Vertigo Games, We Create Games

 

 

Culture ​

There are 71,805 jobs in the cultural and creative sector of 'groot Amsterdam'. It mainly consists of a large number of small companies, 44,910 companies, which is no less than a fifth of all companies in this region.

Half of the workers in this sector are self-employed and the other half are employed, but more often than in other sectors they do not have a permanent contract.

The largest subsector is art and cultural heritage, with 47% of the companies (openresearch.amsterdam, May 31, 2023).

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Tourism ​ ​

In the year 2022, there are 75,720 jobs in the tourism sector in Amsterdam. The subsectors that contain the most jobs this year are culture and recreation, accommodation and overnight stays, catering and travel organizations. Most jobs in this sector can of course be found in the center of Amsterdam (O&S, 2022).

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Municipality of Amsterdam

The Municipality of Amsterdam employs more than 18,000 people.

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New industry ​

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Recycle economy

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Jaap Draaisma

Amsterdam, March 27, 2025