Unemployment climbs to 6 percent

  • Unemployment in January exceeds peak of February 2010
  • Increase young job seekers registered at UWV
  • Nearly 22 thousand WW benefits more than in December

Unemployment adjusted for seasonal variation increased by 18 thousand in January 2012 to 474 thousand, i.e. 6.0 percent of the labour force, according to the most recent figures released by Statistics Netherlands.

Figures presented by the Institute for Implementation of Employees’ Insurances (UWV) show that the number of job seekers registered in the UWV database as well as the number of unemployment (WW) benefits have risen in January 2012.

More unemployed

January’s unemployment figure exceeds the peak recorded in February 2010. The male unemployment rate is 0.5 percentage points higher than in February 2010. The female unemployment rate is approximately the same as in early 2010. Unemployment among women is still higher than among men.

Although youth unemployment grew in January, it is still below the level of nearly two years ago. Unemployment among over-25s, on the other hand, is still higher than in early 2010.

More job seekers registered at UWV

The number of unemployed job seekers (nww) registered in the UWV database grew by 1.3 percent in January 2012 relative to December 2011 to 479 thousand. Proportionally, the largest increase was recorded among under-25 job seekers (+2.6%). The number of job seekers also increased considerably among people in lower-level jobs in engineering (+3.9%), transport (+3.1%), secondary-level care (+2.6%) and administrative jobs (+2.4%).

Substantial increase new WW benefits

The number of current WW benefits rose by 8 percent in January relative to December 2011 to 292thousand. In the first month of this year, 56 thousand new WW benefits were granted, a 29 percent increase from December. The number of benefits terminated in January was 34 thousand, an increase by nearly 10 percent relative to one month previously. The number of benefits terminated due to work resumption grew above average (+33.1 %).