Tension on Dutch labor market decreasing as vacancies fall, unemployment rises

The tension in the Dutch labor market decreased slightly in the third quarter of 2023, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported on Tuesday. The number of vacancies fell by 12,000 while the number of unemployed people increased by 16,000. There were 114 vacancies per 100 unemployed in the third quarter, compared to 122 vacancies per 100 unemployed people in the three previous quarters.

The number of vacancies has increased for five consecutive quarters. At the end of September, there were 416,000 unfilled vacancies in the Netherlands, 12,000 fewer than at the end of the second quarter. The most vacancies were found in trade (79,000), business services (70,000), and healthcare (64,000). Together, these three sectors account for half of all vacancies.

The number of vacancies still increased in education (14,000 unfilled vacancies at the end of Q3), public administration (26,000), and agriculture (4,000). Vacancies remained stable in the transport and storage and information and communication industries. They decreased in all other sectors compared to the previous quarter.

Unemployment increased by 16,000 in the third quarter to 366,000 unemployed people. That is 3.6 percent of the working population, compared to 3.5 percent in the second quarter. Unemployment increased mainly among young people, from 8.2 percent to 8.7 percent of workers up to age 25. In the 25 to 44 age group, the percentage rose from 2.8 to 2.9, and among 45 to 75-year-olds remained stable at 2.1 percent.

Unemployment increased last quarter because more people lost their jobs and fewer people found work. In the third quarter, nearly 60 percent of unemployed people (306,000) had been without paid work for less than a year, CBS said. The number of long-term unemployed - people who have been looking for work for more than a year increased by 5,000 to around 60,000 people.

The number of jobs, including both employee and self-employed positions, grew by 31,000 to 11,560,000 in the third quarter, an increase of 0.3 percent. “Over the past nine years, the number of jobs has increased almost every quarter compared to the previous quarter,” CBS said. The only exception was the second quarter of 2020 when the number of jobs fell sharply due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

In the third quarter of 2023, the number of employees with a flexible contract decreased by 29,000 to 2.7 million. The number of employees with a permanent contract increased by 32,000 to 5.4 million. The number of self-employed people grew by 5,000 to 1.6 million.