Sharp decrease in long-term unemployment in past decade

The number of people in long-term unemployment dropped significantly in the past decade, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported. In the second quarter, 47,000 people were unemployed and had been looking for work for 12 months or longer, compared to 240,000 in the same quarter in 2013.

In the second quarter of this year, 1 in 7 unemployed people had been unemployed for 12 months or more. A decade ago, at the tail end of the financial crisis, that was 1 in 3.

In the same period, the total number of unemployed people more than halved. In the second quarter, 348,000 people in the Netherlands were unemployed, compared to 747,000 a decade earlier.

The total group of unemployed people is, on average, younger than a decade ago. However, this development is only visible among the people who have been unemployed for a short time. In the second quarter, 48 percent of this group were under the age of 25, compared to 38 percent in 2013.

People in long-term unemployment tend to be older, with 62 percent falling in the 45 to 75 age group. “Moreover, the share of the long-term unemployed over 45 has increased slightly over the past ten years,” CBS said, from 57 percent in 2013. The total age distribution of the labor market hasn’t changed much in that time.