Stable number of job vacancies

By the end of September, there were 108 thousand seasonally corrected job vacancies, down 1 thousand on the previous quarter. The number of vacancies fell considerably faster in the previous three quarters according to the latest figures by Statistics Netherlands.

The number of vacancies in care was lower than in the previous quarter, reaching 15 thousand. In all other sectors the number of vacancies stabilised.

The vacancy rate was 13 unfilled vacancies per one thousand jobs by the end of September. This is the lowest vacancy rate since 2003.

Developments in job vacancies are determined by the number of new and filled vacancies. In the third quarter of 2012 there were 164 thousand new vacancies, 29 thousand fewer than the year before. There were also considerably fewer vacancies filled in the third quarter of this year than last year. The labour market was again less dynamic than in 2011.