Unemployment among people with non-western background further up in 2010

• Unemployment among people with non-western background increased at the same rate as among native Dutch
• Increase unemployment among non-western women more substantial than among non-western men
• 23 percent of young people with non-western background unemployed
• Unemployment rates in the Netherlands high among Moroccans and people from the Middle East

Proportionally, the unemployment increase among people with a non-western background was the same in 2010 as in the native Dutch population. According to the latest figures released by Statistics Netherlands, 12.6 percent of people with a non-western background were unemployed in 2010 versus 4.5 percent of native Dutch. The corresponding figures for 2009 were 10.9 and 3.9 percent respectively.

Although unemployment in the Netherlands was reduced over the last ten months of 2010, the average unemployment figures for native Dutch and people with a non-western background were higher in 2010 than in 2009. Last year, 95 thousand people with a non-western background and more than 280 thousand native Dutch were unemployed.

In total, 12.3 percent of non-western men were unemployed in 2010, as against 11.2 percent in 2009. The unemployment rate for non-western women increased from 10.5 percent in 2009 to 13.0 percent in 2010. When the economic crisis began, men were hit hard by unemployment, but the growth slowed down last year, whereas unemployment among non-western women living in the Netherlands increased.

In 2010, youth unemployment in the non-western population in the Netherlands was 23 percent. Relative to 2009, the unemployment rate has risen, but the number of non-western, unemployed youths has remained stable. The increase is entirely attributable to the reduction of young people with a non-western background entering the labour market, for example, because they stay in school longer. The same picture emerges, if we look at young native Dutch. The number of young native Dutch unemployed was the same as one year ago, although the unemployment rate in this category rose marginally.

Just like in the preceding years, Moroccans had the highest and Surinamese the lowest unemployment rate in the four largest non-western population groups in the Netherlands, i.e. 14.6 and 10.3 percent respectively. Unemployment rose sharply in 2010 among Moroccans and other non-westerners. The latter group is mainly comprised of people from the Middle East.