Largest job losses in South Holland in 2004
The number of jobs of employees decreased in 2004 for the second year in a row. The decrease was largest in the province South Holland. In the regions around the four largest cities, only Greater Amsterdam reported an increase in the number of jobs. Almere had the highest job growth of the 25 largest cities, while Zaanstad and Haarlem suffered relatively high job losses. In the second quarter of 2005, job losses came to a standstill.
Fewer jobs in manufacturing and construction
At the end of 2004 the number of jobs of employees was 65 thousand lower than twelve months previously. The decrease was caused by job reductions in manufacturing and construction (minus 49 thousand jobs) and commercial services (minus 21 thousand jobs). In non-commercial services the number of jobs rose slightly (plus 6 thousand).
Jobs only rose in Flevoland
Job number fell in all provinces except Flevoland in 2004. The largest losses were in Utrecht, South Holland and Groningen, where they fell by 1.3 percent. The largest loss in absolute terms was in South Holland: 19 thousand. In this province many jobs were lost in manufacturing and trade. In both sectors the numbers of jobs fell by 5 thousand.
Job growth/loss rates by province, 2004
Slight rise in Amsterdam region
The Corop area Greater Amsterdam is the only one of the regions of the four largest cities to report more jobs. The reason for this increase was higher job numbers in the sectors hotels and restaurants and financial institutions. The 3.4 thousand increase in health care and welfare jobs was also substantial.
Job growth/losses in Corop areas of the four large cities, 2004
In the region around the other three largest cities the number of jobs decreased. The fall was largest in the region around The Hague (minus 8 thousand). In the Rotterdam region the number of jobs in health care and welfare did increase but this was completely countered by losses of jobs in manufacturing and commercial services.
More losses than growth for the largest municipalities
More jobs were to be had in seven of the 25 municipalities with the largest number of jobs. Almere led the way with an increase of 1.3 thousand. This increase was mostly caused by more jobs in business services (+ 0.7 thousand) and trade (0.6 thousand). In Zaanstad and Haarlem the number of jobs fell by 2 thousand. The decrease in Zaanstad was caused by jobs lost in manufacturing and trade, while in Haarlem, there were fewer jobs in health care and welfare.
Jobs growth/loss in some municipalities, 2004
Wai Hong Chung