Technical notes: unemployed labour force (CBS) and unemployment benefits (UWV)

A joint news release is published each month on the unemployed labour force (CBS) and unemployment benefits provided by the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV). The following explanatory notes provide some background information on key definitions.

Unemployment

The unemployed labour force is defined in accordance with guidelines of the International Labour Organization (ILO). This includes all persons aged 15-74 who are not in paid employment, who are actively seeking work and are immediately available for work. The employed labour force refers to persons aged 15 to 74 who are in paid employment.

The figures used are seasonally corrected in order to reflect short-term trends in unemployment and take into account seasonal changes in unemployment. The number of unemployed people usually rises in the first few months of the year (for instance, due to expiring employment contracts or adverse weather conditions). Unemployment also rises in July, but falls again in August (particularly among young people). This seasonal pattern is not exactly the same every year, and deviations from the standard pattern remain visible in the figures. Figures that have not been seasonally adjusted are used to show year-on-year changes.

The figures on the employed and unemployed labour force are based on the Labour Force Survey, a sample survey that nearly 20 thousand people in the Netherlands take part in each month. The results of this survey are subject to a margin of error. When assessing trends in unemployment, it is therefore better to look at the results over a slightly longer period. For this reason, each news release provides details on the average monthly change over the past three months.

The most recent estimate of the unemployed labour force is published by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB).

More unemployed people recorded using the new measurement method
Following a new EU regulation, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) has updated its method for measuring the labour force. Since January 2022, CBS has published figures on the labour force using the new measurement method. The new method reveals not only a higher number of unemployed people, but also a higher number of people in work. This has also led to greater divergence between the number of unemployed people and the number of number of recipients of unemployment benefit.

Unemployment benefit (WW)

Under the Unemployment Insurance Act (WW), the UWV provides unemployment benefit to workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. The number of recipients of unemployment benefit relates to unemployment as a result of redundancy. The number of recipients of unemployment benefit recorded is not seasonally adjusted. The figure excludes unemployment resulting from insolvency in the event of bankruptcies, reduced working hours and bad weather conditions that prevent people from working.

The main reasons for the termination of unemployment benefit are that the unemployed person finds work and that the maximum period of entitlement has been reached.

Differences between unemployment and unemployment benefit

Not everyone who is unemployed according to the definition receives unemployment benefit. This includes, for example, young people seeking work during or after finishing their studies, or other jobseekers who have never worked before or have not worked long enough to build up sufficient entitlement to unemployment benefit. It also includes people who are unemployed and have already reached the maximum period of entitlement, self-employed persons or freelancers, or employees who were dismissed for valid reasons or resigned of their own accord.

Of the 359 thousand unemployed persons in 2023, 315 thousand received no unemployment benefit. This group includes a relatively large number of young people aged between 15 and 25. On the other hand, not all people who receive unemployment benefit are counted as unemployed. In 2023, 72 thousand people were receiving unemployment benefit while in paid employment, and 29 thousand were not seeking work and/or were not available for work, and were therefore not counted as part of the unemployed labour force.