Labor market less tight: Fewer vacancies, more unemployed for first time in 2 years

After seven quarters of mounting tightness, the Dutch labor market eased a bit in the third quarter, Statistics Netherlands reported on Tuesday. The number of unfilled vacancies fell for the first time in nine quarters, and the number of unemployed increased for the first time in two years.

There were 121 vacancies for every 100 unemployed people in the third quarter, down from 143 vacancies per 100 unemployed in the second quarter.

At the end of September, there were 449,000 vacancies, 17,000 fewer than in the second quarter. This is the first decrease after eight consecutive quarters of increasing vacancies. The number of vacancies is now below the level of the first quarter of this year.

The number of vacancies decreased in most industries. In healthcare, vacancies increased by 3,000 to 68,000 unfilled positions. Education also saw an increase and now has 13,000 open vacancies.

Unemployment rose for the first time since the third quarter of 2020. Compared to Q2 of this year, the number of unemployed persons increased by 45 thousand to 372,000. That is 3.7 percent of the working population, up from 3.3 percent in the second quarter. Unemployment is highest among young people at 8.2 percent.

The number of jobs in the Netherlands is still increasing, growing by 59,000 in the third quarter. The Netherlands now counts 11,451,000 jobs, a new record.

The stats office also reported that the number of workers with a permanent contract is increasing, mainly due to people with flexible contracts being offered permanent ones. It seems employers are doing more to retain their staff in the still-tight labor market