For the first time in 5.5 years, the Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS) reports a rise in Dutch unemployment from one quarter to the next. Specifically, in the third quarter of this year, 319,000 were unemployed – 14,000 more than in the second quarter. The number of open vacancies increased from 284,000 – 288,000.
CBS says as a result of rising unemployment and increasing vacancies in the third quarter, “the tension on the labor market has fallen to an average of 90 vacancies per 100 unemployed. In the second quarter, there were 93 vacancies per 100 unemployed.”
The number of job vacancies has been increasing every quarter for six years and continued to climb in the third quarter, with 316,000 new vacancies of which 312,000 were filled. CBS writes that “Never before have so many vacancies been filled in a quarter.”
57,000 vacancies are available in trade, 48,000 in business services, and 39,000 in healthcare. The number of vacancies in the business services sector increased by 2,000 and vacancies in trade and healthcare increased by 1,000 each.
Trade, transport and the hospitality industry saw the greatest increase in new jobs, with 10,000 jobs added in the third quarter. CBS writes that “other sectors with high job growth were healthcare (8,000), education (5,000) and construction (4,000).”
Also in the third quarter, 5.6 million employees benefited from a permanent employment relationship – 213,000 more than last year. These employees have an employment contract and they work a fixed number of hours each week.
Long-term unemployed people – those who have been searching for work for a year or more – numbered 82,000 in the third quarter of 2019 – 28,000 fewer than one year earlier.
According to CBS, in the third quarter of 2019 “employees and self-employed people worked a total of 3.4 billion hours. Adjusted for seasonal influences, that is 0.4 percent less than a quarter earlier.” CBS also reports an average of 25 hours per week worked per job.
