More people, especially youth, return to workforce

The number of people with jobs has increased by 18,000 in the last three months. In particular, it is young people who are more likely to pick up work.

The level of unemployment dropped to seven percent from 7.2% three months ago. The unemployment rate among young people decreased from 11.8 to 10.8 percent in the respective period.

The work force remained virtually unchanged during the period of time implying an approximately 18,000 reduction in the number of unemployed, reports Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on Thursday. The number of paid-out unemployment benefits fell by 12,000, or approximately 2.7 percent.

Out of 12.7 million Dutch people aged between 15 and 75, 8.3 million have a paid job. That means that 66.3 percent of the population is in paid employment. Three months earlier, the figure was at 66.5 percent.