Jobs turnaround predicted by benefits office

Around 20,000 new jobs are expected to be available in 2015, when the growing economy will start showing signs of employment opportunities. The UWV presented a labour market prognosis on Tuesday, and calculate that job availability will decrease with 60,000 this year (minus 0.7 percent). Next year, however, it will be the first time in three years that the economy will start showing signs of job growth. Much of this is limited to certain sectors and regions. It goes hand in hand with a decrease in the number of people with unemployment benefits, according to the Implementation Institute Employee Insurance (UWV). The UWV is expecting 20,000 new jobs (plus 0.3 percent), to almost 7.7 million. Up to 2015, job growth is only expected in Groot-Amsterdam, Flevoland, Southeast Brabant and Helmond-De-Peel. Jobs in other regions will go down. Mostly the staffing industry, the hotel and restaurant sectors and sectors oriented around export such as wholesale will profit from the economic growth this year. The other sectors will start growing again next year. Job growth in the public sector remains slow, however. The UWV expects a decline in job availability for care and well-being as well as public governance in that sector. This year, more people will sign on for unemployment benefits, but it will be less compared to the last years. UWV is expecting an increase of 22,000 (plus 5 percent) to 460,000 in total. For 2015, the UWV is calculating a slight drop with 3000 (minus 1 percent). The vulnerable age group under 35 years of age, this decline is already happening. Over-55's are taking more benefits, however, increasing with 15 percent and next year with another 5 percent. In April, the Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS) calculated that 8.7 percent of the Dutch population was unemployed, with a total of 687,000 people. This unemployment is increasing less rapidly, but not because there are more jobs. It seems that students are removing themselves more often from the labour market, in pursuit of further studies.