More unemployed among people with non-western background in 2012

• Unemployment rate among people with non-western background 15.5 percent
• Relatively fast increase unemployment among non-western women
• Unemployment rate non-western youth 28.4 percent

Last year, 128 thousand people with a non-western background and 315 thousand native Dutch people were unemployed. According to the most recent figures released by Statistics Netherlands, unemployment has risen further in 2012.

On average, 15.5 percent of the non-western labour force in the Netherlands were unemployed last year, versus 13.1 percent in 2011. Unemployment in the native Dutch population increased from 4.2 to 5.0 percent over the same period. The unemployment growth rate in the non-western population in the Netherlands is higher than in the native Dutch population. The past shows that, when the economy picks up, unemployment in the non-western population is also declining more rapidly. The unemployment rate in the non-western population in the Netherlands has been approximately three times as high as in the native Dutch population for many years now.

In the non-western population in the Netherlands, unemployment among women has risen more rapidly than among men. As a result, non-western women are currently as often unemployed as their male counterparts. The rate among non-western women grew from 12.5 to 15.8 percent and for non-western men from 13.5 to 15.3 percent. In the native Dutch population, male unemployment rose marginally faster than female unemployment. Among native Dutch, men and women are also equally often unemployed.

Over 31 thousand non-western 15 to 25-year-olds were unemployed in 2012 (28.4 percent in the young non-western labour force), versus 23.4 percent one year earlier. The number of young native Dutch unemployed reached 68 thousand, but the growth from 7.7 to 9.8 percent of the labour force was less substantial than among non-western young people.