Report: No jobs for half of unemployed over-55 year olds

More than half of the unemployed over 55-year-olds in the Netherlands can not find a new job before their unemployment benefits run out, according to figures NU got from LocalFocus and benefits agency UWV of the period 2013 to November 2015.

Older people living in the Randstad region particularly have a hard time finding a new job. Only 28.7 percent of unemployed over 55-year-olds in the Groot-Amsterdam region find employment before their benefit period expires. In Drenthe 49.9 percent manage to do so and in Friesland it is 45.7 percent. The national average is just over a third.

According to NU, the UWV attributes the major differences between the Randstad and regions like Drenthe and Friesland to he fierce competition between younger and older workers. "Outside the Randstad there is a more aging population and promising young people usually move away", a spokesperson said. "This leaves a greater chance of work for the older job seeker. In the Randstad there is more competition in the labor market, which means that older job seeker have less chance of a new job."