unemployment

Eastern Europe is flourishing, with falling unemployment and rising wages. While this is great news for countries like Romania and Poland, it is a blow to the Dutch business world. Especially for companies that are increasingly dependent on migrant workers, ABN Amro said in a new report on labor migration, RTL Nieuws reports.

Refugees in the Netherlands are still struggling to find work. Only a quarter of asylum seekers who came to the Netherlands in 2014 now have a job, according to a new report by social-economic council SER. Business incubator Refugees Forward is trying to help by giving refugees the training they need to launch their own successful businesses.

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 Dutch economy grew by 2.5 percent last year, compared to 2.9 percent growth in 2017, Statistics Netherlands reported based on initial figures. The economic growth was boosted by higher consumer spending and business investment. The trade balance - the difference between imports and exports - contributed less to the growth than the year before.

The number of unemployed people in the Netherlands decreased to 326 thousand in November. That means that 3.5 percent of the Dutch labor force are unemployed, slightly lower than before the outbreak of the financial crisis at the end of 2008, Statistics Netherlands reported on Thursday.

Statistics Netherlands considers someone to be unemployed if he or she does not have paid work, is actively looking for work, and is available to start immediately. Over the past three months the number of unemployed people declined by an average of 9 thousand per month.

Dutch people often misjudge important facts about the Netherlands. The Dutch population's perception about immigration, unemployment and climate change figures, among others, is far wrong, according to the study Perils of Perception by Ipsos. The research agency interviewed citizens from 37 countries. In none of the countries did the citizens estimate figures correctly, RTL Nieuws reports.

The Dutch economy will continue growing this year and next year, though a bit slower than expected, central planning office CPB said on Thursday. The CPB expects 2.8 percent growth in 2018 and 2.6 percent in 2019, instead of 2.9 percent and 2.7 percent as the office expected in June, NU.nl reports.

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". 

The Dutch economy grew by 3.2 percent last year, and more people in the Netherlands had work than ever before. Despite this, the growth in net disposable income is still lagging behind, Statistics Netherlands reported on Tuesday.

In 2017 net real disposable income - the amount Dutch have left to spend after all premiums and taxes were deducted, corrected for inflation - grew by 1.5 percent. This was the third year in a row that Dutch had more to spend. But the growth is small compared to the 3.2 percent growth in the Netherlands gross domestic product. 

Only 11 percent of the 20 thousand asylum seekers who got refugee status in the Netherlands in 2014, had paid work in the summer of last year. A year and a half after obtaining refugee status, on 4 percent had paid work, according to figures Statistics Netherlands released on Tuesday.

Half of the refugees that came to the Netherlands in 2014 are from Syria. 10 percent of this group had paid work last summer - Statistics Netherlands' latest reference date. 6 percent of the 4 thousand Eritrean refugees had work. Most of the refugees in these two groups are still on welfare. 

The Dutch economy will continue to grow strongly this year and next year, according to expectations announced by the Netherlands office for economic policy analysis CPB on Tuesday. Next year unemployment will drop to its lowest level since 2001, NU.nl reports.