Unemployment falls to its lowest point since the start of the pandemic

In June, 297 thousand Netherlands residents were unemployed - the lowest point since the coronavirus pandemic hit the country in March last year. 3.2 percent of the working population was unemployed last month, Statistics Netherlands reported on Thursday. 

To be considered unemployed in the Netherlands, you must have no paid work, be actively searching for a job, and be available to start working immediately. Unemployment can fall because more people find work than lose work, but also because people stop searching for a job. "Over the past three months, unemployment fell solely because of the first, more unemployed people found a job than employed people became unemployed," the stats office said.

On average over the past three months, the number of unemployed people fell by 10 thousand per month. The number of people with paid work increased by 21 thousand per month in the same period. In June, 4 million Netherlands residents between the ages of 15 and 75 had paid work. 

There were also 3.8 million people who did not have paid work, but weren't considered unemployed because they were not actively seeking a job. Their number fell by an average of 12 thousand per month in the last three months.

At the end of June, benefits agency UWV paid out over 238 thousand active unemployment benefits, 11,300 fewer than a month earlier - a decrease of 4.5 percent. This number also dropped below pre-crisis levels for the first time last month. June was the fifth month in a row that the number of unemployment benefits decreased. Compared to June last year, the number of active unemployment benefits was 20.7 percent lower.

The UWV noted that young people in particular became more active on the labor market last month, with the number of unemployment benefits for people up to the age of 27 decreasing 13.9 percent compared to the month before. Compared to June 2020, the number of unemployment benefits for young people decreased by 61.1 percent.