Lower unemployment rate among non-Western minorities in Netherlands

The unemployment rate among people with a non-Western background in the Netherlands decreased in 2016, according to Statistics Netherlands. Last year unemployment in this group was 13.2 percent, compared to 16.5 percent in 2014.

Statistics Netherlands also noted that unemployment is higher among the second generation of non-Western immigrants than the first generation. The unemployment rate for second generation immigrants, who were born in the Netherlands, was 14.3 percent last year, compared to 12.5 percent for first generation immigrants.

The stats office partly attributes this to age. Youth unemployment is generally higher than unemployment in older age groups.

Statistics Netherlands added that the second generation of non-Western immigrants are more likely to have a starting qualification than the first. A starting qualification - a VWO, HAVO or MBO at minimum level 2 - is seen as the minimum level of education needed to succeed on the labor market in the short and long term. In the second generation 58 percent had a starting qualification last year, compared to 55.4 percent first generation.