Almost half a million people unemployed

In the period March – May 2004 an average of 495 thousand people were unemployed in the Netherlands. That is 109 thousand more than in the same period last year, according to the latest figures by Statistics Netherlands.
In the last three months an average of 6.6 percent of the labour force was unemployed. In the same period last year this was 5.2 percent.

Unemployed higher in seasonally corrected figures

Seasonal influences can strongly affect unemployment. The short-term trends are best depicted on the basis of the seasonally corrected figures.

In winter unemployment is always slightly higher on average. There is less work in construction, agriculture, hotels, restaurants etc. After February the seasonal pattern changes substantially.

Seasonal influences hardly affect unemployment in the period March – May, on balance. The seasonally corrected figure for the unemployed labour force in the period March – May 2004 was 495 thousand. This is an increase of 13 thousand on the period February – April 2004. This leaves the average rate of increase over the last six months at a constant 12 thousand more people unemployed a month.

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