Unemployment levels off

• Marginal growth male unemployment
• Number of job seekers registered at UWV stable
• Fewer WW benefits

Adjusted for seasonal variation, 400 thousand persons (5.1 percent of the Dutch labour force) were registered as unemployed in February 2011. The most recent figures released by Statistics Netherlands show that the number of unemployed remained stable in February.
Figures provided by the Institute for Implementation of Employees’ Insurances (UWV) indicate that the number of job seekers hardly changed and the number of unemployment (WW) benefits declined.

Male unemployment higher

Seasonally adjusted unemployment grew by 2 thousand in February, whereas in the preceding 11 months unemployment had dropped by an average of nearly 5 thousand a month.
Unemployment among men grew slightly over the first two months of this year. The age category 25–45 entirely accounts for the increase. The male unemployment rate rose from 4.7 percent in December 2010 to 4.9 percent in February 2011. Unemployment among women was reduced, but the rate is still 0.5 percentage points higher than for men.

Fewer job seekers in construction sector

The UWV states that the number of unemployed job seekers was reduced by 0.1 percent  to 496 thousand in February. The number of job seekers under the age of 25 rose by 1 percent. Fewer job seekers educated at lower or secondary level in technical occupations were registered at the UWV in February, because the number of job seekers in the construction sector dropped by 2.2 percent.

Number of new WW benefits drops dramatically

In February, terminated WW benefits (37 thousand) exceeded new benefits (33 thousand). Current benefits declined to 280 thousand, due to a substantial reduction by 32 percent in new benefits.