Unemployment up after decreasing for a year

According to the latest figures by Statistics Netherlands, seasonally corrected unemployment in the period July-September 2006 averaged 417 thousand. This is 14 thousand more than in the period June-August 2006. It is the first time in one year that unemployment is rising again.

Despite the rise, there are almost 70 thousand fewer people unemployed than a year ago. In the period July-September 2006, 5.4 percent of the labour force was unemployed. A year ago this was 6.4 percent.

Hitch in falling unemployment

Seasonally corrected unemployment has fallen from 492 in the summer of 2005 to 403 thousand in de period June-August 2006. In the first six months of 2006, unemployment fell by an average of 9 thousand a month. Then the momentum disappeared. In the period July September 2006 unemployment increased by 14 thousand.
The rise in unemployment shows that more people seek to enter the job market, which is partly due to the positive economic developments. These job seekers have not found a job right away. It is too early to predict if the increase in unemployment observed in the period July September 2006 means a turning point in unemployment developments.

Year-on-year unemployment 70 thousand lower

407 thousand people were unemployed in the period July September 2006, almost 70 thousand less than a year ago.
The number of young unemployed people fell by 23 thousand to 100 thousand. The unemployment among young people reached 10.9 percent.
Unemployment also fell among people aged 25-44. The number of unemployed in this age bracket fell by 50 thousand and reached 172 thousand. However, among people over 45 there was an increase in unemployment of 4 thousand reaching 135 thousand. The unemployment rate, on the other hand, fell slightly to 4.9 percent.

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