Unemployment rate unchanged

Around 3.6 million people aged 15 to 74 were not in paid employment in November 2024. In addition to the 372 thousand people who were unemployed, 3.3 million people were not actively seeking work or not immediately available for work. Many of these are retirees and people who are unable to work due to illness or occupational disability. These people are not counted as part of the labour force. Averaged over the past three months, the number of people outside the labour force has risen by 5 thousand per month. Unemployment declined by 1 thousand per month, on average.

UWV: number of unemployment benefits fell by 2.4 thousand in November

At of the end of November, UWV counted 176.6 thousand recipients of unemployment benefits. That was a decrease of 2.4 thousand compared with the previous month (down by 1.4 percent). In November, 20.9 thousand new unemployment benefits were granted and 23.3 benefits were terminated.

UWV: decrease in benefits in education in particular

The number of unemployment benefits decreased the most in the education sector (-9.1 percent), health and well-being (-2.6 percent) and in the banking and insurance sector (-2.4 percent). In education, the number of unemployment benefits usually decreases after the summer, in September or October. This year, the usual decrease in unemployment benefits in this sector has occurred somewhat later. The number of unemployment benefits increased in all sectors, but it increased by the most in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector (6.8 percent), accommodation and food services sector (3.6 percent) and in the culture sector (3.5 percent).

More unemployed people are finding jobs

Unemployment trends are the result of underlying movements between those in employment, the unemployed and those who are not part of the labour force. This is visualised in the chart below. The graph below the chart shows the changes in these different flows over the past few years.

Unemployment can increase or decrease due to four different changes in people’s circumstances. Two of these can lead to lower unemployment. The first change occurs when an unemployed person finds a job. The second change occurs when an unemployed person stops seeking work and leaves the labour market. In November, there were 239 thousand people who had been unemployed three months earlier.

There are also two changes that can lead to higher unemployment. The first happens when an employed person loses their job and the second when a person who was previously unavailable for work decides to seek employment. If people in these groups do not find work immediately, they become part of the unemployed labour force. The total number of people who became unemployed in November was, at 238 thousand, almost equal to the number who ceased to be unemployed, at 232 thousand.

The latter number has increased slightly compared with three months ago, while the number of people who became unemployed has hardly changed. As such, the number of unemployed persons has decreased slightly, by 1 thousand per month. The number of employed persons increased, after a slight fall in the third quarter. More people entered the labour market and found a job immediately in the last few months, and fewer people stopped working and left the labour market.

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 benefit. The figures released by UWV do not correspond directly with the labour force indicators.