Number of job vacancies marginally up

  • 137 thousand open job vacancies
  • Job market more dynamic
  • High vacancy rate in sector commercial services

Adjusted for seasonal variation, 137 thousand vacacancies were open by the end of June, i.e. 2 thousand more than one quarter previously. The latest figures released by Statistics Netherlands show that the number of vacancies has steadily grown since the first quarter of 2010.

There were 81 thousand job vacancies in the sector commercial services at the end of the second quarter, an increase by 2 thousand from the first quarter. The trade sector mainly accounts for the increase. Employment is also rising in the ICT sector. In the second quarter, the number of vacancies reached the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2008.

The number of job vacancies in manufacturing industry grew by one thousand to 15 thousand relative to the first quarter and has grown by half compared to one year ago, but the number of open vacancies in the sector non- commercial services was marginally below the level of the previous quarter.

The job market is more dynamic. In the second quarter of this year, 210 thousand new vacancies were posted, 19 thousand more than in the same period last year. More people managed to find employment; 202 thousand vacancies were filled in the second quarter, 20 thousand more than in the same period in 2010.

The tightness of the job market is expressed in the number of vacancies per one thousand jobs. The highest vacancy rate is found in the sector commercial services, in particular in the ICT sector.

The lowest vacancy rate is recorded in the sector non-commercial services. The number of job vacancies is relatively low in the sectors government and education.