Fall in Netherlands unemployment ends as more employers request layoffs

The fall in unemployment in the Netherlands has come to an end. On average, over the past three months, the number of unemployed increased by 14 thousand per month, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported. For the first time in a year and a half, businesses also submitted more requests to dismiss or lay off an employee to benefits agency UWV.

In September, 382,000 people in the Netherlands were unemployed. That is 3.8 percent of the working population, the same as in August. To be considered unemployed, you must have no paid work, be actively looking for a job, and be available to start working immediately.

Another 3.3 million people were not working in September but are not counted as unemployed because they do not fit the above criteria. These mainly concerned people who are retired or unable to work due to illness or disability. In the past three months, this non-working population decreased by an average of 11,000 per month. This group of non-workers has fallen almost continuously in recent years, resulting in a smaller and smaller proportion of them being available to join the working population.

The number of working people in the Netherlands increased by an average of 6,000 per month over the past three months.

At the end of September, the benefits agency UWV paid out 152,000 active unemployment benefits. That slight increase of 0.2 percent put an end to a months-long decline. Compared to a year earlier, the number of active unemployment benefits was still 55,000 lower - a decrease of 26.9 percent.

Last month, the UWV paid out 21,800 new unemployment benefits and terminated 21,500 benefits. The higher number of new benefits was partly due to employers requesting more dismissals or layoffs for the first time in about 18 months. The UWV received 1,463 such requests last month, the highest since March 2021.