Unemployment at 4.1 percent in February

© ANP / Peter Hilz
  • In February 2026, there were 416 thousand unemployed persons.
  • The number has risen slightly over the past three months.
  • The number of people receiving unemployment benefit fell slightly.

There were 416 thousand unemployed persons in February. Unemployment has risen by an average of three thousand per month over the past three months. This means that 4.1 percent of the labour force (aged 15 to 74 years) were unemployed. The number of people in paid employment has also increased, by an average of one thousand per month over the past three months. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this on the basis of newly released figures. The Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) records included 205 thousand current unemployment (WW) benefits at the end of February.

In addition to the 416 thousand unemployed persons, 3.2 million people were not actively seeking work or not immediately available for work in February. These people are not counted towards the labour force. Many of these are retirees and people who are unable to work due to illness or occupational disability. Averaged over the past three months, the number of people outside the labour force has fallen by an average of three thousand per month.

UWV: Slight decrease in the number of unemployment benefits recorded

At the end of February, the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) recorded 205.5 thousand current unemployment benefits. That was a slight decrease from January (-0.1 percent). A total of 22.2 thousand new people were granted unemployment benefit and 22.4 thousand benefits were terminated. This means that the total number of unemployment benefits remained above 200 thousand, unchanged from January 2026.

At the end of February, the number was higher than the previous year in almost all of the 35 labour market regions. Only in the regions of Groningen (-1.7 percent) and Drenthe (-2.8 percent) did the number of unemployment benefits recorded fall compared with the previous year. The increase was larger than 10 percent in 13 of the 35 regions. Compared with February 2025, the number of unemployment benefits recorded rose by the most in the regions of Zuid-Holland Centraal (+18.0 percent), Haaglanden (+16.6 percent) and Gorinchem (+16.2 percent).

More people became unemployed than found work

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 is when an unemployed person finds a job (146 thousand in February). The second is when an unemployed person stops seeking work and leaves the labour market (102 thousand in February). In February, there were 248 thousand people in work who had been unemployed three months earlier.


There are also two opposite flows, which can increase unemployment. The first happens when an employed person loses their job (121 thousand in January) and the second when a person who was previously unavailable for work decides to seek employment (136 thousand in February). If people in these groups do not find work immediately, they become part of the unemployed labour force. In February, 257 thousand people were unemployed who were still in work three months earlier. Both the number of people who became unemployed and the number of people who found work were higher than in February 2025.

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 publishes its own monthly figures on unemployment benefit. The figures released by UWV do not correspond directly with the labour force indicators.

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