We are indebted to the Volkskrant for drawing up this list of the biggest employers in the Netherlands. They produced a top 100. Here is the top 25. We love the way they have managed to get the info – the equivalent number of full time jobs – right down to the last person. And is MacDonalds really one of the biggest employers in the country? Scarey.

1. Police                63,778

2. Armed forces   71,749

3. Rabobank         41,402 (banking)

4. PostNL               33,284 (postal delivery)

5. KLM                    31,189 (airline)

6. Ahold                 30,000 (supermarkets)

7. Tax office           28,107

8. ING                     24,940 (banking)

9. NS                       22,000 (railways)

10. ABN Amro       19,290 (banking)

11. KPN                  17,470 (telecom)

12. UWV                16,600 (the state run job centres)

13.Achmea           15,170 (insurance)

14.Amsterdam     14,060 (the city council)

15. Philips             12,776

16. VolkerVessels 12,097 (construction)

17. Rotterdam       11,450

18. Espira                11,439 (healthcare)

19. Tata Steel          11,300

20. McDonalds       11,050

21. Blokker              10,881 (household and toys retail)

22. Jumbo                10,699 (supermarkets)

23. Shell                   10,500

24. BAM                    10,472 (construction)

25. Vebego               9,886 (home nursing)