Dutch unemployment at 7.2 percent on revised calculations

The number of unemployed people in the Netherlands increased with 2 thousand in January when compared with December 2014. Despite this the unemployment rate deceased with almost one percent to 7.2 percent. This is according to figures that Statistics Netherlands released today. The reason for this bizarre turn of events is that Statistics Netherlands is now using unemployment calculations that is in line with the rest of Europe. This makes for less confusion as the Netherlands can now easily be compared with unemployment figures from other countries. The reason for the sharp decline in unemployment is that almost 1 million people with a small job now count as part of the labor force. Before January 1st Statistics Netherlands calculated the labor force as people who work at least twelve hours per week, or unemployed people looking for a job of at least 12 hours a week. On international standards, a job of 1 hour per week is enough. The maximum age to be part of the workforce also increased from 65 years to 75 years. This means that the workforce is significantly larger, the increase being mostly contributed to students working temp jobs and to a smaller degree pensioners. The number of people looking for work naturally also increased. But all in all the unemployment rate declined from 8.1 percent of the workforce in December to 7.2 percent in January.