Open job vacancies in Netherlands at record high

The number of open vacancies in the Netherlands reached record high in the second quarter of this year. At the end of June there were 251 thousand open vacancies, a growth of 16 thousand in the second quarter. With that the previous record from the end of 2007 was broken. Then there were 249 thousand open vacancies in the country, Statistics Netherlands reported on Tuesday.

The number of vacancies rose in almost all branches of industry in the second quarter. Trade got the most new vacancies, plus 4 thousand. The hotel and catering industry saw vacancies increase by 3 thousand. And business services, education and industry each saw an increase of 2 thousand. Only the financial services sector saw a small decrease.

The tension on the labor market increased further in the second quarter. On average there were 1.4 unemployed persons in the country for each vacancy. This is the third quarter in a row that the Dutch labor market has been tense, which means that the demand for labor is above average and the available supply is relatively low. The labor market is not yet as tense as it was in 2008, when there were 1.3 unemployed per open vacancy.

In the second quarter of this year the number of jobs in the country increased by 52 thousand - the 7th quarter in a row that jobs increased by more than 50 thousand. The number of jobs increased almost continuously over the past four years, by a total of 676 thousand. The number of jobs for employees increased by 48 thousand to 8,313 in the second quarter, and the number of jobs for self-employed increased by 5 thousand to 2,094 thousand.

Corrected for seasonal influences, the Netherlands counted 354 thousand unemployed people in the second quarter, a decrease of 14 thousand compared to the first quarter. That means that 3.9 percent of the Dutch labor force is unemployed. Unemployment peaked at 7.8 percent in the first quarter of 2014. Since then it's declined for 17 quarters in a row. To be considered unemployed, a person must be actively looking for a job and available to start immediately. Unemployment is still higher than the lowest point before the start of the financial crisis. In the second half of 2008, 3.6 percent of the labor force was unemployed.