The largest employers in Amsterdam​

​All of Amsterdam and the Zuidas

 

 

 

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                       Headquarter Booking.com (Plevier, 2022)

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Amsterdam's economy continues to grow; more businesses, more jobs. More than 70,000 new inhabitants settle in the city annually; nearly 90,000 in 2023 and over 80,000 in 2024. This continued influx is partly due to the continued development of the labor market, which offers many jobs and opportunities. Large employers play a crucial role in this, partly due to their international appeal. Together, the main employers within the municipality account for more than 124,000 jobs, which represents 16.3% of the total number of jobs (760,040) in the municipality of Amsterdam (LISA, 2025). Schiphol Airport, with over 65,000 employees, is not included in this figure because it is located outside the municipality of Amsterdam. In the Port of Amsterdam, around 50,000 employees work for more than a thousand companies, meaning that no single major port employer emerges.

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The 25 largest employers: scale and diversity of the economy

 

This overview highlights Amsterdam's 25 largest employers, encompassing organizations from diverse sectors such as financial services, government, education, healthcare, and technology. This spread demonstrates that Amsterdam isn't dependent on a single sector but is characterized by a diversity of economic activities. It is precisely this breadth that strengthens its economic resilience, a characteristic that Sassen (1991) considers essential for a global city, where various forms of specialized labor converge and reinforce each other. This combination of public and private sectors makes Amsterdam an economic hub in international networks of labor and capital, where the city both attracts and redirects resources.

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* The data were collected via the internet and may differ in practice

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The Zuidas as a financial and legal hub 

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It will primarily be the large financial, legal, consultancy, and IT firms that attract internationals with well-paid jobs. Below, we focus on the upper end of the labor market; the segment of these firms located in the Zuidas business district. This business district has developed over the past decades into the financial heart of the Netherlands, where law firms, international banks, consultancy firms, and tech players are concentrated and where highly educated talent from the Netherlands and abroad converge. These organizations offer so-called producer services; services that support other companies in areas such as international transactions, strategic decision-making, and risk management. These are precisely the sectors that, according to Sassen (1991), form the command structures of the global economy. They are places where decisions are made that impact global capital flows.

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The figure below shows some of the largest employers in the Zuidas district. Together, these companies account for more than 26,000 jobs. Regarding a report from the Zuidas-Zuidasdok information center (2024), the Zuidas district would have 54,000 employees in 2023; the companies listed below therefore represent almost half of the total employment in this business district. Compared to Amsterdam as a whole, the Zuidas district represents more than 7% of the total number of jobs in the city.

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When comparing the sector distribution of the Zuidas to Amsterdam as a whole, as shown in the images below, it's striking that the Zuidas is strongly focused on two clusters: financial services and business services. The financial sector is relatively much more prominent here than in the rest of the city, while business services (already the largest sector in Amsterdam) is even more concentrated in the Zuidas. Companies in these sectors serve the global economy by providing consultancy, accounting, legal, and financial support to other businesses worldwide. It is precisely because of these functions that the Zuidas serves as the economic engine of Amsterdam as a global city.

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​Creative and tech companies in the city center

 

A significant portion of the top tier of the labor market is located not in the Zuidas business

district, but in Amsterdam's city center. This historic core forms the second largest cluster

of international companies: Booking.com (6,000 employees), Just Eat Takeaway (2,000),

Adyen (1,900), Heineken (1,850), Mollie (650), Catawiki (500), Oracle (450), Unilever's ice

cream division (450), and Guerrilla Games (350) are located here. Together, they represent

more than 14,000 jobs.

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These companies differ in character and sector from the corporate institutions in the Zuidas

district. Here, we see companies from the creative industries, fintech, e-commerce, media,

gaming, and marketing. Moreover, the city center is attractive to international talent due to

its cultural and historical character: the proximity of cafés, the canal district, workspaces

with views of historic buildings, and the vibrant city life.

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While the Zuidas represents the analytical and administrative side of the global economy,

the city center embodies the innovation and creative side. This also aligns with Sassen's

(1991) theory: global cities are not only financial hubs, but also places where symbolic

capital, creativity, and knowledge abound, and where new economic sectors grow and

are internationally oriented.

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When Magnum CEO Peter ter Kulve decided to locate in Amsterdam's city center instead of the Zuidas, the difference between the two locations was emphasized: "The traditional multinational hub of the capital's Zuidas was eliminated. All the Amsterdammers in our organization said: 'We have to move to the city center.'" (Stil, 2025).

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​Commuter flows

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A global city is characterized not only by its internal dynamics but also by its regional scale. Amsterdam attracts workers from the entire Randstad and beyond, meaning its economic reach clearly extends beyond its geographical borders. The most recent Final Report on City Growth from 2018 shows that 551,000 Amsterdam residents work there, 119,000 of whom work elsewhere and therefore commute between municipalities. Conversely, 288,000 come to Amsterdam from other municipalities to work here (Redactie SST, 2018). These enormous numbers of commuters demonstrate that Amsterdam functions as the economic hub of a vast urban network: the Amsterdam metropolitan region. According to Sassen (1991), such urban networks are essential for global cities: the functions of the center are supported by a much larger regional labor market, infrastructure, and residential environment.

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Sources

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Informatiecentrum Zuidas-Zuidasdok. (2024, 4 september). Business district. Zuidas. https://zuidas.nl/theme/zuidas-business-district/

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LISA. (2025). LISA Gemeenten 2024 [Dataset]. https://www.lisa.nl/gratis-data/

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Plevier, E. (2022, 21 december). Hoofdkantoor Booking.com. Het Parool. https://www.parool.nl/nederland/booking-verkoopt-hoofdkantoor-in-amsterdam-voor-566-3-miljoen-euro-en-wordt-huurder-van-pand~b419e4f1/ 

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Redactie SST. (2018). Eindrapport Groei van de stad. In Openresearch.Amsterdam. Gemeente Amsterdam. https://openresearch.amsterdam/nl/page/36119/eindrapport-groei-van-de-stad

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Sassen, S. (1991). The Global City. 

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*and all websites of all of the employers

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