Unemployment in the Netherlands remained unchanged in August compared to a month earlier. Although the Dutch economy entered a recession last quarter, the labor market still remains very tight. The number of unemployment benefits increased slightly last month in almost all sectors.
Last month, 3.6 percent of the working population was without paid work, reports the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). In July, unemployment increased slightly to 3.6 percent.
In August, 364,000 people aged 15 to 75 were unemployed, compared to 362,000 in July. Statistics Netherlands measures the development of the number of unemployed as an average change over the past three months. In those months the number of unemployed increased by an average of 4,000 per month. The number of workers increased by an average of 5,000 per month in the same period.
Last month, 3.6 million people aged 15 to 75 were not in paid work for various reasons. In addition to the unemployed, this involved 3.2 million people who had not recently looked for work and/or were not immediately available. They are not considered part of the working population. This mainly concerns people who are retired or cannot work due to illness or disability. In the months June to August, the number of people outside the labor force fell by an average of 7,000 per month.
Differences by age
In 2023, total unemployment in the working population aged 15 to 74 did not change much per month, according to Statistics Netherlands. However, there are differences by age. For example, youth unemployment rose from 7.5 percent in December last year to 8.7 percent in August. There were mainly young unemployed people who had only recently started working.
The UWV provided more than 156,000 unemployment benefits in August. That is 4,400 more than in the previous month. In August, 19,800 benefits were terminated and 24,200 new benefits were added. Compared to August last year, the number of unemployment benefits increased by 3.1 percent.