More job vacancies published last quarter as labor market remains tense

The Dutch labor market remained tight in the first quarter of 2023, with 122 open vacancies for every 100 unemployed people. The number of new vacancies increased, while unemployment decreased slightly, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported on Tuesday.

At the end of March, there were 437,000 open vacancies in the Dutch labor market - the same as at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022. “This stabilization follows two quarters of decline,” CBS said. Like in the previous quarters, the most vacancies were in trade (85,000), business services (71,000), and healthcare (67,000). Together, these three sectors account for half of the open vacancies.

After four quarters of decrease, the first quarter saw more new vacancies added to the labor market. There were 381,000 new vacancies in the first quarter, 11,000 more than in the fourth quarter. Another 381,000 vacancies were filled in the first quarter, compared to 378,000 the quarter before.

The vacancy rate - the number of open vacancies per 1,000 employed jobs - rose from 47 to 49 in the first quarter. The highest vacancy rate was in the catering industry (77) and construction (72).

The total number of jobs also rose in the first quarter, increasing by 63,000 to 11,606,000. The number of unemployed people decreased by 2,000 to 357,000 people. That is 3.6 percent of the labor force, the same as in the previous quarter.

While the unemployment rate remained the same, there were differences between age groups. Youth unemployment increased to 7.9 percent, and unemployment rose to 3.0 percent in the 25 to 45 age group. Among older workers, 45 to 75, unemployment fell from 2.5 to 2.3 percent in the first quarter.