Far fewer jobs

Taking seasonal effects into account, there were 46 thousand fewer jobs (0.6 percent) in the third than in the second quarter of 2013. The quarter-on-quarter figures on jobs of employees have been in decline for more than two years now.

Jobs of employees, seasonally adjusted

Jobs of employees, seasonally adjusted

There were 160 thousand fewer jobs of employees in the third quarter of 2013 than in the same period of 2012, a reduction by 2.0 percent. Employee job numbers have been below the level of twelve months previously for almost two years now, and each quarter the loss of jobs has increased further.

In the third quarter, jobs were lost across the board except in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Hardest hit were the construction sector with a loss of 31 thousand jobs and the health and care sector with a loss of 30 thousand jobs. Employment was also considerably down in business services (24 thousand) and trade, transport, hotels and restaurants (22 thousand).

Altogether, there were more than 7.7 million full-time and part-time employee jobs in the Netherlands in the third quarter of 2013. The number of labour years (the number of jobs converted to full-time equivalents) stood at over 5.7 million, i.e. 2.1 percent down from twelve months previously.

Growth rate of jobs and economic growth

Growth rate of jobs and economic growth

More figures can be found in dossier Business cycle.

For more information on economic indicators, the reader is referred to the Economic Monitor.