Unemployment slightly down in November

In November, 3.6 million people aged 15 to 74 did not have paid work for various reasons. Aside from the unemployed, 3.2 million people were not recently looking and/or immediately available for work. These people are not counted towards the labour force. They mainly include retirees and people unable to work due to sickness or work incapacity. Over the past three months, the number of people outside the labour force grew by 5 thousand a month on average.

More WW benefits

In November 2023, UWV issued 160.2 thousand WW benefits, an increase of 2.9 percent relative to October (155.8 thousand). In November, 22.8 thousand benefits were terminated and 27.3 thousand new benefits were granted.
The rise in unemployment (WW) benefits was seen across virtually all sectors, particularly in agriculture, green space management, fisheries (+12.4 percent), chemical industry (+11.6 percent), accommodation and food services and catering (+10.9 percent). Relative to October, the number of benefits declined mainly in education (-8.3 percent) and in the food, beverages and tobacco industry (-1.3 percent).

Youth unemployment fluctuating

The unemployment rate among 25 to 44-year-olds and 45 to 74-year-olds has hardly changed since the beginning of this year. That is not the case for unemployment among young people (aged 15 to 24 years). In December 2022, the unemployment rate stood at 7.5 percent. This had increased to 8.8 percent in September 2023. The rate subsequently declined, to 8.2 in November. More than 4 in 10 unemployed are under the age of 25 at the moment. Relatively many unemployed young people live in and around the student cities.

Inflow and outflow more or less balanced

Unemployment trends are the result of underlying flows between the employed, the unemployed and those not in the labour force. This is visualised in the diagram below. The chart below the diagram shows the development of these different flows over the past few months.

Unemployment may increase or decrease due to four different flows. Two of these can lead to lower unemployment. The first flow is when unemployed people find a job. The second flow is when unemployed people stop seeking work and leave the labour market. The latter flow stood at 96 thousand in November, the largest number since December 2021.

There are also two flows in the opposite direction, which can lead to higher unemployment. They concern employed people who lose their job as well as people who were previously unavailable on the labour market and who started seeking employment. If they do not find work immediately, they become part of the unemployed labour force.

The inflow into unemployment and the outflow from unemployment keep each other more or less balanced. There is slightly more outflow from unemployment than inflow, due to which the number of unemployed declined slightly in November. In November, there were 7 thousand fewer unemployed people than three months previously, bringing unemployment down by over 2 thousand a month on average.

Every month, CBS publishes figures on the labour force in accordance with guidelines of the International Labour Organization (ILO). 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 about benefits released by UWV do not correspond one-to-one with the labour force indicators.