The Netherlands ends senior hiring incentives: a wake-up call for 50+ talent across Europe

From 2026 onwards, the labor market in the Netherlands will undergo a structural shift with direct consequences for professionals over 50. The Dutch government has confirmed the definitive removal of the Labour Costs Compensation (LKV) scheme designed to encourage the hiring of workers aged 56 and above. This change, phased in from 2024, will be fully implemented in 2026, when the incentive will no longer be available for any new employment contracts.

For more than a decade, the LKV helped employers offset part of the higher wage costs often associated with experienced professionals. The system provided a financial allowance per hour worked, up to an annual cap, and became a widely used tool to support senior employability in sectors where accumulated knowledge and long-term expertise are strategic assets.

The Dutch executive now argues that the scheme has reached the end of its cycle. Officially, the decision is framed as part of a broader effort to simplify labor subsidies and reallocate public resources toward more general employment policies. In practice, this means that any professional aged 56 or over hired from 2024 onwards no longer generates entitlement to the compensation, and that from 2026 no employer will be able to claim it at all.

A direct impact on the economics of experience

The elimination of the LKV is far from a minor technical adjustment. It represents a permanent increase in the labor cost of senior professionals, at a time when Europe is grappling with an ageing workforce and growing shortages of qualified talent across multiple industries.

For companies, the change forces a reassessment of recruitment and retention strategies. Experience is no longer supported by a dedicated public incentive and must compete on equal budgetary terms with younger profiles. For many finance departments, this may translate into more cautious decisions when considering senior hires, even when the added value of experience is evident.

From the perspective of professionals over 50, the landscape is also shifting. Traditional employment models become less appealing, while alternative paths gain traction: self-employment, specialized consulting, project-based work and interim roles. Experience does not disappear; it changes its channel.

A signal that goes beyond borders

Although this policy applies specifically to the Netherlands, its implications extend well beyond Dutch borders. Senior hiring incentives are under review in several European countries, driven by rising public spending and a rapidly evolving labor market. What is happening today in Amsterdam may well foreshadow similar debates in Berlin, Paris or Madrid.

For the FIFTIERS ecosystem, this development reinforces a core idea: the value of mature talent can no longer rely solely on public subsidies. The future points toward more flexible work models, a stronger positioning of expert knowledge, and organizations capable of understanding that age is not a burden but a competitive advantage when managed with vision and intelligence.

The end of the LKV is not the end of senior work. It marks the beginning of a new phase in which experience must assert its true weight in Europe’s labor economy of tomorrow.