Unemployment high among flexible workers

In the first quarter of this year, 143 thousand persons who were still employed in the fourth quarter of 2012, lost their jobs. In particular people participating in flexible working hours schemes lost their jobs. In the same period, 90 thousand unemployed found work. Most of them had flexible employment contracts.

More flexible workers unemployed

Employees with flexible employment contracts more often become unemployed than employees with fixed employment contracts or self-employed. Employment among flexible workers was reduced by 85 thousand (6.9 percent) in the first quarter of 2013 relative to the fourth quarter of 2012. The corresponding figures for permanent-contract workers and self-employed were 46 and 11 thousand respectively, i.e. approximately 1 percent in both categories.

People losing their jobs from one quarter to the next by type of employment contract

Share of unemployed finding permanent jobs almost reduced by half

The number of unemployed finding permanent-contract jobs for at least twelve hours a week is falling continually. In the first quarter of this year, 90 thousand unemployed found a job; more than 15 percent held permanent employment contracts versus more than 27 percent in 2009. The proportion of people who start working on a self-employed basis did nearly double to 12 percent over the past four years. Most of them hold flexible contracts. In the first quarter of this year, 73 percent of unemployed had flexible working hours.

People who found jobs from one quarter to the next by type of employment contract

One and a half times as many jobs lost in the first quarter of 2013 as four years ago

In the first quarter of this year, 143 thousand persons still included in the employed labour force in the fourth quarter of 2012, lost their jobs, i.e. more than one and a half times as many as in the same period in 2009. Additionally, 90 thousand unemployed found jobs of twelve hours a week or more in the first quarter of 2013. This amount also increased over the past four years, though less rapidly than the amount of employed who lost their jobs.

People losing their jobs from one quarter to the next and people who found jobs from one quarter to the next

Marian Driessen and Hendrika Lautenbach