More employed and fewer unemployed in March

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Over the past three months, the number of unemployed has declined by 14 thousand per month on average. As a result, it stood at 327 thousand in March 2022, i.e. 3.3 percent of the labour force. In the same period, the number of people in work aged 15 to 74 years grew by 37 thousand per month on average, to 9.5 million. The increase was relatively strong among young people. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this on the basis of new labour force figures. The Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) registered 184 thousand unemployment (WW) benefits as of the end of March.

In March, 3.7 million people between the ages of 15 and 75 did not have paid work for a variety of reasons. In addition to the unemployed, 3.4 million people were either not looking and/or not immediately available for work; they are not counted towards the labour force. Their number has dropped by an average of 22 thousand per month over the past three months.

Unemployment rate further down in March

In order to enable comparison of cyclical developments in the labour market across countries, the unemployment indicator of the International Labour Organization (ILO) is used as a measure. According to this indicator, the unemployed are those who are not in paid work but who have been looking recently and are immediately available. This figure refers to the population aged 15 to 74 years. Between February and July 2020, i.e. during the initial phase of the coronavirus crisis, the unemployment rate in the Netherlands rose from 4.0 to 5.5 percent. This was followed by almost continuous decline, to 3.3 percent of the labour force as of March this year. It is the lowest rate in the series with monthly figures since 2003.

UWV: number of WW benefits declined further in March

At the end of March 2022, UWV was issuing 184 thousand unemployment (WW) benefits. This is 3.6 thousand or 1.9 percent fewer than at the end of February. Relative to March 2021, the number of current WW benefits fell by 98 thousand or 34.8 percent year on year.

Sharpest drops in accommodation and food services, agriculture

Relative to the previous month, the accommodation and food services sector showed the largest decrease in the number of WW benefits: -7.1 percent. The same sector already saw a 4.0-percent decrease in February. COVID-related contact restriction measures were lifted that month, contributing to the decrease.

In the agricultural sector, the number of WW benefits continued to decline as well: by 5.6 percent. This is also shown in the number of WW benefits for agricultural occupations, which declined by 9.1 percent in March 2022. The season plays an important role here.

Sharply rising youth labour participation

In March, there were altogether 9.5 million people in work. This is 110 thousand more than three months previously at the end of December. A relatively large share of these 110 thousand, namely 41 thousand, were people under 25. This caused net labour participation among young people to rise to 75.6 percent in March. This was still 73.7 percent In December. Net labour participation also rose among 25 to 44-year-olds and the over-45s in the period December – March, albeit more modestly (by 0.5 percentage point for both groups).

Unemployment declined over past three months

The continued unemployment decline over the past three months is related to underlying flows between the active, unemployed and inactive labour force. This is visualised in the diagram below.



In March, 327 thousand people were unemployed. The number stood at 369 thousand three months previously (December). This represents an unemployment decline by 42 thousand over the 3-month period (on average 14 thousand per month). As shown in the above diagram, unemployment can decline because unemployed people either find a job or withdraw from the labour market. On the other hand, there is an inflow into unemployment from the active labour force and from the inactive labour force.

In the past three months, more unemployed people found a job than employed people lost their job, resulting in an unemployment decline by 64 thousand on balance. The decline was diminished due to the fact that more people started seeking work without immediate result (from inactive labour force to unemployed) than stopped seeking and/or became unavailable (from unemployed to inactive labour force). On balance, there was an inflow of 23 thousand unemployed from the inactive labour force.

Footnote

Every month, CBS publishes figures on the labour force in accordance with international guidelines. The corresponding indicators, i.e. the employed and unemployed labour force, are used around the world to describe cyclical developments on the labour market. Monthly figures are essential in this respect. In addition, UWV issues its own monthly figures on unemployment benefits. Figures released by UWV do not correspond one-to-one with the labour force indicators.

Sources

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