Steady decline in over 50's on unemployment benefits

The number of people over 50 receiving unemployment benefits in the Netherlands continues to decline, according to benefits agency UWV on Tuesday. While the entire country is seeing a decline, there are large regional differences, NU.nl reports.

In Friesland the number of people over 50 on unemployment decreased by 13 percent since February. In Noord-Holland and Utrecht, the decline was around 4 percent.

The number of older workers on unemployment increased almost constantly between January 2013 and February of this year. In this period the number of unemployment benefits paid to workers 50 years and older increased by 49 percent. But since February, that number dropped by 6 percent nationwide.

Older men find work more often than women of the same age group. 47 percent of unemployed men over 50 was back at work within a year, compared to 35 percent of women.

50+ ambassador John de Wolf is pleased with the positive developments on the labor market, but points out that the unemployment rate among older workers is still very high.