No further reduction unemployment

Early this year, the number of unemployed started to fall, but in the past three months the decline has come to a standstill. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports that 607 thousand people or 6.8 percent in the labour force were unemployed in September, i.e. the same amount as in July and August.

Growing youth unemployment

The unemployment rate among young people has risen from 11.1 to 11.5 percent over the past three months. Currently, 161 thousand 15 to 25-year-olds are unemployed. Youth unemployment has increased since April, but is below the level of one year previously. In September last year, 12.0 percent of young people were unemployed.

Working population stable

The number of people in paid work is about the same as in June. Until June, the working population had grown. The number of people working at least 12 hours a week increased, but the number of people working less than 12 hours a week decreased at the same rate.

Two-thirds of all 15 to 74-year-olds employed

The 15 to 74-year-old population in the Netherlands includes 12.7 million individuals. In September, 65.4 percent of them had paid work, i.e. 8.3 million people ((4.5 million men and 3.8 million women). In the past twelve months, there has been a notable increase in the number of working women.

In September, a total of 607 thousand people were unemployed, 4 thousand fewer than three months ago. Unemployment among men was marginally higher than among women. The remaining 3.8 million people in the age category 15-74 are not defined as belonging to the labour force: they too had no job, but they were not looking for a job or were not immediately available for the labour market. With 2.2 million, women constitute the majority in this category.