Youth unemployment growing but national jobless rate holds at 3.6%

While the unemployment rate in the Netherlands held steady at 3.6 percent of the working population in August, unemployment among the youngest workers is on the rise. Many unemployed young people between 15 and 25 still had work in the past year, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported on Thursday.

This year, the total unemployment in the Netherlands remained relatively stable, but there were differences by age. Youth unemployment rose from 7.5 percent in December last year to 8.7 percent in August. The unemployment rate remained virtually the same among 25 to 44-year-olds at 7.8 or 7.9 percent and fell from 2.5 to 2.1 percent among 45 to 74-year-olds.

Of the 348,000 Netherlands residents unemployed in the second quarter of 2023, 189,000 still had paid work in the past year. In the same quarter a year earlier, that was 166,000. The increase was mainly among young workers, CBS said. In the second quarter of 2022, 74,000 young unemployed people still had worked in the year before. In the second quarter of 2023, that was 86,000. There were also 29,000 young people who had not worked before.

Unemployed people over 25 were more likely than young workers to be unemployed for longer, last working two years or more ago. However, this number also decreased from 73,000 in the second quarter of 2022 to 60,000 in the past quarter. Among young workers, 15,000 hadn’t had paid work in two years or more in Q2 of this year.

At the end of August, the benefits agency UWV paid out 156,400 active unemployment benefits, 4,400 more than a month earlier, an increase of 2.9 percent. Compared to a year earlier, active unemployment benefits increased by 4,700 or 3.1 percent.

To be counted as unemployed by CBS, you must have no paid work, be actively looking for work, and be available to start working immediately. In addition to the unemployed, the Netherlands also counted 3.2 million non-working people in August. They are mainly retirees or people unable to work due to illness or disability.