ABSTRACT
The mobility of employees in the Netherlands has proved to be highly sensitive to the business cycle. In 1957 the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS, the government statistical agency) wrote: ‘In recent years-in part as a consequence of the tightness of labor markets-turnover of personnel has reached such levels that great damage results for individual firms and the national economy’ (CBS 1957:324). Reduction of excessive mobility was a policy goal, and necessitated the collection of proper data. CBS therefore started a quarterly series on turnover in the manufacturing industry. The data were gathered from a survey among firms with ten employees or more, and were categorized by reason of separation. In 1965 the series was discontinued, without further motivation. At that time, turnover was about as high as it was in 1957.
