Sustained decline unemployment

Unemployment fell to 603 thousand in July. Over the past three months, unemployment declined by 22 thousand. The number of working people increased by 14 thousand in this period. The employed labour force currently includes 8.3 million people. The most recent figures released by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) show that 6.8 percent of the Dutch labour force were unemployed in July.

UWV: 420 thousand unemployment benefits

In the past month, the number of unemployment benefits grew by 10 thousand to 420 thousand, i.e. 3.8 percent below the level of July last year.

8.3 million people in paid employment

The 15 to 74-year-old population in the Netherlands comprises 12.7 million individuals. In July, 8.3 million of them (4.5 million men and 3.8 million women, i.e. 65.4 percent) had paid jobs. Among women in particular, paid employment has increased for quite some time.

Last month, a total of 603 thousand persons were unemployed: they had no job, but were available and looking work. In July, male unemployment was marginally higher than female unemployment. The remaining 3.8 million 15 to 74-year-olds are included in the so-called non-labour force: the people in this group had no jobs, but were not available or looking for work. With 2.2 million, women constitute the majority in this group.

Unemployment down

Within the space of one year, the unemployment rate fell from 7.3 to 6.8 percent of the labour force. Up to and including the first quarter of 2015, youth unemployment declined noticeably; from 12.8 percent in July 2014 to 10.8 percent in March. In recent months, the youth unemployment rate has risen again marginally to 11.3 percent, but among people aged 25 or older, unemployment has in fact declined in the past three months. For 25 to 44-year-olds it fell from 5.9 to 5.4 percent; for over-45s from 6.6 to 6.4 percent.

UWV: more new benefits in July 2015 than in July 2014

The number of current unemployment benefits granted by the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) rose by 10 thousand to 420 thousand in July, but is 3.8 percent below last year’s level. The rise in July deviates from the downward trend monitored in the recent past. Broken down by sector, UWV states there was a relative increase in the sectors education, temp agencies and transport and storage in July. Compared to June, the increase in unemployment benefits is most obvious in the age bracket under 35. The traditional peak in summer in the sector education is due to the termination of temporary employment contracts at the end of the school year.

According to UWV, the number of new unemployment benefits grew by 5.5 percent in July compared to July 2014. Over the first seven months of 2015, the number of benefits declined by 12 thousand (-3.3 percent) relative to the same period last year. Men account entirely for the decline. In the same period, the number of people who moved from unemployment to employment increased by 4 percent, among over-50s by no less than 18 percent.