Unemployment was 3.9 percent in May

These are the most recent figures on this topic. View the previous figures here.
© Hollandse Hoogte / Peter Hilz
  • Unemployment stood at 3.9 percent in May 2026, the same as in April.
  • The number of unemployed people has fallen by an average of 6 thousand per month over the past three months.
  • The number of people in work has fallen by an average of 7 thousand per month over the past three months.

Unemployment stood at 399 thousand in May 2026. The number of unemployed persons has fallen by an average of 6 thousand per month over the past three months. Meanwhile, the number of people in paid employment has fallen by an average of 7 thousand per month over the same period. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this on the basis of newly released figures. At the end of May, the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) records included 205 thousand current recipients of unemployment (WW) benefit.

In addition to the 399 thousand unemployed persons, 3.2 million people were not actively seeking work or not immediately available for work in May. These people are not counted as part of the labour force. Many of them are retirees or are unable to work due to illness or occupational disability. Averaged over the past three months, the number of people who are not part of the labour force has risen by an average of 11 thousand per month.

UWV: decrease in the number of recipients of unemployment benefit

At the end of May, the UWV recorded 199.4 thousand recipients of unemployment benefit. This put the total number of recipients lower than at the end of April (down by 1.8 percent). A total of 19 thousand new people were granted unemployment benefit and 22.8 thousand benefits were terminated in May. The number of unemployment benefits fell across all sectors. The decline was the most significant in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector (-6.5 percent), construction (-6.0 percent) and among temporary agencies (-5,6 percent). In these sectors, the number of recipients of unemployment benefit usually falls from spring onwards because there are more seasonal jobs available.

More people found work than became unemployed

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 (152 thousand in May). The second is when an unemployed person stops seeking work and leaves the labour market (102 thousand in May). A total of 254 thousand people were no longer unemployed in May, who had been unemployed three months earlier.


* provisional figures

There are also two groups of people moving in the opposite direction, which can contribute to higher unemployment. The first group is made up of employed people who lose their job (125 thousand in May) and the second group is made up of people who were previously unavailable for work and decide to seek work (111 thousand in May). If people in these groups do not find work immediately, they become part of the unemployed labour force. In May there were 236 thousand people who were unemployed but had been in work three months earlier, due to these factors. The number of unemployed people has fallen by an average of 6 thousand per month over the past three months, because more people found work than became unemployed.

More people stopped working and left the labour market

The number of people in work fell in May, mainly because more people stopped working and (temporarily) left the labour market, while at the same time fewer people not in the labour force entered the labour market and found a job immediately. Over the past two years, the rise in the number of people in work has levelled off. The number of self-employed workers fell during this period, while the number of people in employment continued to rise.

Every month, CBS publishes figures on the labour force in accordance with guidelines of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The indicators described (employed labour force and unemployed labour force) are used around the world to describe cyclical developments on the labour market. Monthly figures are essential for this. In addition, the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) publishes its own monthly figures on unemployment benefits. The figures released by UWV do not correspond precisely with the labour force indicators. For further information on the differences between the sources, please refer to the technical notes.

A fire in a data centre caused a technical disruption at CBS, meaning that people were temporarily unable to complete questionnaires. Due to the lower response rate, the uncertainty in the results for April and May is higher than usual. The figures presented in this news release are provisional and subject to revision.

Sources

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