Slight decrease in unemployment

In November, 364,000 people in the Netherlands were unemployed. That is 3.6 percent of the working population, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported. Over the past three months, the number of unemployed fell by an average of 5,000 per month.

The number of people in the Netherlands’ workforce topped 10 million for the first time in November. The workforce is people between 15 and 75 who have paid work or are unemployed. Unemployed means they don’t have paid work, are actively looking for a job, and are available to start immediately.

Another 3.3 million people did not have paid work in November but did not meet the unemployment criteria. These are mainly people who are retired or unable to work due to illness or disability. In the past three months, this group has decreased by an average of 11 thousand per month.

The number of non-working people has never before been this low in the 20 years that CBS has been tracking this figure, the stats office said. In November, there were 3.6 million unemployed and other non-working people in the Netherlands, nearly half a million lower than at the start of the series of figures.

At the end of November, the benefits agency UWV paid out 144,900 unemployment benefits. That is 4,600 fewer benefits than a month earlier, a decrease of 3.1 percent.