Unemployment keeps falling despite recession concerns

Unemployment fell again in December. In the last month of 2022, 3.5 percent of the Netherlands’ working population was unemployed, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported. A month earlier, that was 3.6 percent.

The continuing fall in unemployment is striking because many economists expect the economy to end up in a recession. Economic contraction often goes hand-in-hand with job losses.

In December, 352,000 people were unemployed. Another 3.3 million people did not have paid work but are not counted as part of the workforce because they are not immediately available for work or have not recently looked for a job. Both the group of unemployed and the non-working population shrank in recent months.

Earlier last year, unemployment in the Netherlands hit a record low at 3.2 percent. The share of unemployed steadily rose to 3.8 percent in September and then started falling again.

The number of unemployment benefits was over 22 percent lower in December than 12 months earlier. Benefits agency UWV paid out 149,200 benefits, slightly more than the previous month. According to CBS, that is due to seasonal influences. For example, there’s less work in agriculture and construction in the winter. The number of benefits increased the fastest in these sectors.