Unemployment reduced further, though marginally

• Unemployment down for the eighth consecutive month
• Number of unemployed a bit lower than one year ago
• Fewer job seekers in pedagogical professions
• Unemployment benefits down by 6 thousand

The latest figures released by Statistics Netherlands show that the seasonally adjusted unemployment figure for October 2010 stood at 410 thousand, i.e. 2 thousand fewer than in September.

Figures published by the Institute for Implementation of Employees' Insurances (UWV) show that the number of job seekers and the number of unemployment (WW) benefits have dropped.

Number of unemployed reduced further

In September as well as in October, seasonally adjusted unemployment was reduced by 2 thousand. In the six months prior to September, unemployment dropped by an average of 6 thousand a month.

If seasonal effects are not taken into account, 394 thousand persons (5.0 percent of the labour force) were unemployed in October. The number of unemployed was reduced by 2 thousand in October 2010 relative to October 2009. The number of unemployed in the age category 15–24 was 14 thousand down on last year. In the population aged 45 and older, on the other hand, unemployment rose by 14 thousand.

Marginal reduction job seekers

The UWV reports a reduction of unemployed job seekers by nearly 2 thousand to 482 thousand. The amount of job seekers in higher pedagogical (-3.1 percent) or higher linguistic (-2.8 percent) professions dropped sharply. The amount of job seekers was also reduced above average (-2.0 percent) in the young population.

Fewer WW benefits

The current amount of WW benefits dropped by over 6 thousand in October to 263 thousand; 32 thousand new WW benefits were granted and 38 thousand benefits were terminated.