Unemployment declined in October

In October, 3.7 million people aged 15 to 74 years did not have paid work for a variety of reasons. Aside from the unemployed, 3.3 million people were not looking and/or immediately available for work recently; they are not counted towards the labour force. This mainly concerns people who are retired or unable to work due to illness or disability. Their number has dropped by an average of 8 thousand per month over the past three months.

Unemployment rate in October at 3.7 percent

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 have been looking recently and are immediately available. This figure refers to the population aged 15 to 74 years. In April of this year, unemployment came out at 3.2 percent, the lowest rate in the series with monthly figures as of 2003. It subsequently increased to 3.8 percent in September. In October, it fell slightly to 3.7 percent.

UWV: fewer benefits in October

At the end of October 2022, UWV issued 150 thousand current WW benefits, representing a decline of 1.6 percent relative to the end of September. This means that after a very slight increase in September, the number of benefits fell back to below the number at the end of August. Relative to October 2021, the number of current WW benefits was down by 49.6 thousand (-24.9 percent). In October 2022, 16.4 thousand new WW benefits were granted while 18.9 thousand benefits were terminated.

UWV: different picture for each sector

The development of the number of current WW benefits varies from sector to sector. Most sectors saw a decline relative to September, with education (-5.3 percent), construction (-3.1 percent) and the public sector (-2,9 percent) as outliers. The sector agriculture, forestry and fisheries saw a rise in benefits of 11.5 percent, in line with the end of the harvest season. A slight increase was also seen in accommodation, food and catering services after the end of the summer months (+0.7 percent).

More job losses

In October, unemployment declined on September, although it remained higher compared to the level three months previously in July. Between July and October, unemployment rose by 12 thousand (4 thousand per month on average). The rise in unemployment over the past three months is the result of underlying flows between the active, unemployed and inactive labour force. This is visualised in the diagram below.

The net inflow (balance of inflow and outflow) from the inactive labour force is usually the most important reason for unemployment growth. Between June and September, the inflow of employed who lost their job increased, while the flow from unemployed to employed labour force remained virtually unchanged. On balance, this resulted in a relative small outflow from unemployment to employment in August and September. In October, the flow from employment to unemployment declined, while the flow in the opposite direction showed a slight increase again. As a result, the net outflow from unemployment to employment came out at 21 thousand.

From May onwards, the net inflow from inactive to unemployed labour force was higher than in the preceding months of this year. In September as well, it was relatively high (49 thousand). In October, the net inflow fell to 33 thousand. This resulted in 12 thousand more unemployed as of July, at an average of 4 thousand per month. Due to the smaller outflow into employment and the larger net inflow from the inactive labour force, unemployment rose from 353 thousand in July to 365 thousand in October.

Every month, CBS publishes figures on the Dutch 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.