Youth employment falls for first time since 2021 as Dutch unemployment rises to 3.8%
The percentage of young people in the Netherlands with paid jobs has declined for the first time since 2021, according to new data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS). In 2024, 77.7 percent of people aged 15 to 27 had paid work, down from 77.9 percent in 2023. In January 2025, the Netherlands recorded 386,000 unemployed people, representing 3.8 percent of the total labor force, marking the first increase in the national unemployment rate in five months.
Across the Netherlands, 177,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 27 were unemployed in 2024, with about 127,000 of them still enrolled in education. Youth employment rates rose every year since 2014, when only 69 percent of young people were employed, with the exception of a reduction during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.
The falling employment rate was particularly notable among those not enrolled in education, whose labor force participation had already been falling in 2022 and 2023. For students, employment rates also dropped slightly from 74 percent in 2023 to 73.8 percent in 2024.
The number of young people not enrolled in education and without work has generally been on the rise since 2021. In 2024, there were over 126,000 young people in this category, up from 99,000 in 2021. Of this group, 50,000 were classified as unemployed, meaning they were actively seeking work and available for employment. This figure has increased from 37,000 in 2021.
The remaining 76,000 young people were neither searching for work nor available for employment. This represents an increase of 13,000 since 2021, driven mainly by young people who are unable to work due to illness.
Despite the rise in young people without work over the past two years, the overall youth unemployment rate remains relatively low, the CBS said. In 2024, 6.2 percent of young people not in education were unemployed, compared to 10.5 percent in 2014. For students, the unemployment rate was 8.9 percent, down from 14.1 percent a decade ago.
Unemployment rate rises to 3.8 percent in the Netherlands
Overall, the rising joblessness in the Netherlands was not due to job losses but rather an increase in the number of people looking for work, the CBS said. Many of them were simply unable to immediately find employment.
Between November 2024 and January 2025, the number of unemployed people grew by an average of 3,000 per month, while the employed workforce increased by 15,000 per month. By January 2025, a total of 9.8 million people had paid employment in the Netherlands.
At the same time, 3.6 million people between the ages of 15 and 75 were without paid work. This group includes 386,000 unemployed individuals, as well as 3.2 million people who were not actively searching for jobs or available for work. Many of these individuals are retired, ill, or unable to work due to disability. Over the past three months, the number of people outside the labor force has decreased by an average of 17,000 per month.
Unemployment levels fluctuate due to various labor market movements. Two key factors can drive unemployment down: when unemployed individuals find jobs or when they stop searching for work and leave the labor market. In January 2025, 229,000 people who were unemployed three months earlier had either found jobs or stopped looking for work.
Conversely, unemployment can rise due to job losses or when people who were previously outside the labor force begin seeking work but do not immediately find employment. In January 2025, 238,000 people became unemployed, surpassing the number of unemployed individuals who found jobs or exited the labor force. This increase was mainly due to people entering the job market and failing to secure employment right away.
