Slightly fewer job vacancies

• 5 thousand fewer unfilled vacancies
• Decrease in manufacturing, hotels and restaurants, care and finance
• Number of filled vacancies also down

According to figures released today by Statistics Netherlands, there were 118 thousand job vacancies at the end of March 2012, after correction for seasonal effects. This is 5 thousand fewer than at the end of the previous quarter.

The decrease was reported in manufacturing, hotels and restaurants, care, and financial institutions. There was a slight fall in the number of job vacancies in these sectors. Numbers of vacancies in other sectors of industry remained stable.

Changes in the number of unfilled job vacancies depend on the number of new vacancies and the number of vacancies filled. In the first quarter of 2012, 169 thousand jobs fell vacant, 28 thousand fewer than in the same period last year. In the previous quarter the decrease in the number of jobs falling vacant was 14 thousand. The number of vacancies filled was also substantially smaller than twelve months previously. This would seem to indicate a decrease in labour markets dynamics.