Netherlands unemployment falls to pre-Covid level
Unemployment in the Netherlands fell further in October. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the unemployment rate was the same as in February 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic. Due to the strong recovery from the coronavirus crisis, the demand for personnel is high, and there are staff shortages in various sectors.
Unemployment as a share of the workforce fell to 2.9 percent. In October, 277,000 people were unemployed. The unemployment rate was still 3.1 percent in September.
Thanks to the coronavirus support from the government, unemployment remained low for some time. Various branches reopened in the summer months, which were previously closed due to coronavirus restrictions. This allowed more people to work. Young people, in particular, benefited from this.
Over the past three months, the number of workers aged 15 to 75 increased by an average of 21,000 per month to 9.2 million, according to the stats office. In addition to the unemployed, there were also 3.7 million not-working people in this age group. They were not actively looking for work or were not immediately available. Statistics Netherlands, therefore, does not count them as part of the working population. Their number fell by an average of 19,000 per month in the last three months.
Reporting by ANP