At the end of 2019 a total of 413 thousand people in the Netherlands were receiving welfare benefits, a decrease of 19 thousand compared to the year before. The number of welfare recipients decreased regardless of migration background, Statistics Netherlands reported on Friday.
Between 2009 and 2016, the number of people living on social assistance increased annually, by a total of 160 thousand in that period. Since 2017, that number has been decreasing again, in total by 51 thousand.
People who have a paid job generally feel healthier than people without a job, Statistics Netherlands reported on Monday. 90 percent of employed persons describe their own health as good or excellent, compared to 76 percent of people with no work. On a scale of one to five, working people give their health a score of 3.4 while non-working people score their's 3.0 on average.
In December a total of 9 million residents of the Netherlands had a paying job - the highest number of employed persons in the country to date, Statistics Netherlands reported on Thursday. After a minor increase in the second and third quarter of 2019, unemployment decreased again in the fourth quarter, and the number of active unemployment benefits with it.
The number of people in the Netherlands who live below the poverty line continues to decline, according to social and cultural planning office SCP. In 2017 nearly 939 thousand people did not have enough money to get by, compared to almost a million people the year before. The SCP attributes the decline to economic growth and increased employment, NOS reports.
Freelancers and other workers with a flexible employment relationship on average earn 48 percent less per hour than employees with a permanent contract, Statistics Netherlands reported on Thursday.
This mainly has to do with differences in background characteristics - flexible employees are on average younger and less educated, according to the stats office. If these characteristics are taken into account, freelancers earn 7 percent less than their permanently employed counterparts.
The Dutch economy, measured by gross domestic product, grew by 2.7 percent last year. That is somewhat less growth than in 2017, when the highest economic growth since the financial crisis was achieved, Statistics Netherlands reported on Monday.
As in previous years, the economic growth in 2018 was largely due to increased employment. Household consumption contributed most to the economic growth last year. Investments in fixed assets also made a larger contribution. In previous years, foreign trade was the driving force behind the economic growth.
The Amsterdam Metropolitan Region developed strongly after the financial crisis and will continue to do so in the coming years, according to the Economic Outlook Metropolitan Region Amsterdam 2018 that the city of Amsterdam published on Wednesday. The city attributes the region's success to its "diverse and open economy in which both large and small companies can grow".
Prime Minister Mark Rutte responded to a letter from 21-year-old Noortje van Lith from Roosendaal. The young woman, who is bound to a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy, expressed concern over him supporting a legislative proposal stating that people with a disability can be paid less than minimum wage.
The number of people in the Netherlands receiving welfare benefits continues to rise, Statistics Netherlands reported on Thursday. Between June 2016 and June 2017, this group increased by 12 thousand people to a total of 472 thousand welfare recipients. The increase is smaller than in previous years, the stats office added.
Compared to other EU countries, people in the Netherlands are relatively often employed, but at the same time work almost the least number of hours per week, according to figures Statistics Netherlands released on Tuesday.
Of the 12.8 million people in the Netherlands between the ages of 15 and 75 years, 65.8 percent had paid work last year, according to the stats office. That is roughly seven out of ten men and six out of ten women. In the European Union, only Sweden, Germany and Estonia have higher employment rates.
The College of Human Rights think poverty reduction should be higher up on the political agenda and the government should develop a national program to tackle poverty, they stated in a report issued on Wednesday. Human rights such as right to education, employment, health and housing are threatened by citizens' lack of monetary means.
More than two out of ten employees in the Netherlands say they are unhappy with their job’s salary, reports the Statistics Netherlands (CBS) based on data collected in the fourth quarter of 2015. However, the percentages strongly vary between sectors. Almost four out of ten persons employed by government institutions said they were dissatisfied with their income.
The Netherlands had a budget surplus of 0.5 percent of the gross domestic product in the second quarter of this year, Statistics Netherlands reported on Monday based on seasonally adjusted figures for the second quarter of 2016.
Freelancers are getting more work hours than they did two years ago. They more often keep working for their client and are also offered a permanent contract more often, according to figures Statistics Netherlands released on Tuesday
Closing all power plants in the Netherlands will mean 1.9 billion euros in lost revenue for energy companies, but bring in 4.7 billion euros in extra wealth for the country, according to a study done by SEO Economic Research on behalf of environmental organization Natuur & Milieu
Highly-skilled Dutch people are quicker to find work in the Netherlands than migrants with a non-western ethnicity with the same level of education, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands.
A total of 57 law changes will go into effect in 2016. Significant laws will come into play that affect everything from tax payouts, crowd funding & crowd financing, daycare subsidies and even a new language requirements for welfare benefits.
A total of 639 thousand migrants from European Union countries were living in the Netherlands on December 31st 2014. That is an increase of 47 percent compared to the 435 thousand EU migrants in the country in 2007, according to figures released by Statistics Netherlands on Monday. Since 2012, the annual increase was about 5.5 percent.
Men became less economically independent during the crisis. Last year 65 percent of men between the ages of 15 and 65 had work that paid an income at the minimum benefit level, compared to 70 percent in 2007. Among women, economic independence remained at mostly the same level.
SP leader Emile Roemer wants to reduce VAT from 21 percent to 19 percent. He feels that the sales tax increase in 2012 was at the expense of small and medium sized businesses - the job engine of the Dutch economy.
The number of working women in the Netherlands has shown a stronger growth over the past decade than the number of working men. In the second quarter of this year there were a total of 3.8 employed women, compared to 3.4 million in 2005. The number of working women between the ages of 25 and 45 years showed a decrease however.
While 7 out of 10 Dutch adults believe that working is a social obligation, 80 percent feel that there are more important things in life than work.
The increase in employment between March and May is almost entirely due to a rising number of women in the workforce, reports Statistics Netherlands (CBS). The number of working men remained stable during the period.
The number of unemployed workers aged 50-and-above is falling, according to new numbers published by the UWV benefits agency on Wednesday. Nearly 26,000 individuals in that category found work in the last four months.
