Unemployment virtually unchanged in The Netherlands in 2023

Last year, the unemployment rate hardly changed. In December, 3.6 percent of the labour force were unemployed, equivalent to the 2023 average. In Q4, unemployment declined slightly by 3 thousand per month on average, ending at 361 thousand in December. In the same period, the number of people in paid employment grew by 25 thousand per month on average. This is evident from recent figures released by Statistics Netherlands (CBS). The Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) recorded 161 thousand current unemployment (WW) benefits as at the end of December.

In December, 3.6 million people aged 15 to 74 did not have paid work for various reasons. Aside from the unemployed, 3.2 million people were not looking and/or immediately available for work recently. These people are not counted towards the labour force. They mainly include retirees and people unable to work due to sickness or work incapacity. Over the past three months, the number of people outside the labour force fell by 9 thousand a month on average.

The inflow into unemployment and the outflow from unemployment are more or less balanced. There is slightly more outflow from unemployment than inflow, due to which the number of unemployed declined slightly in November. In December, there were 10 thousand fewer unemployed people than three months previously, bringing unemployment down by over 3 thousand a month on average.
Every month, CBS publishes figures on the labour force in accordance with guidelines of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The corresponding indicators, i.e. the employed and unemployed labour force, are used around the world to describe cyclical developments on the labour market. Monthly figures are essential in this respect. In addition, UWV issues its own monthly figures on unemployment benefits. Figures released by UWV do not correspond one-to-one with the labour force indicators.