Netherlands Unemployment Rate Falls To 3.6%

The Netherlands’ jobless rate dropped for a second straight month in November and the number of unemployed was the lowest in four months as more Dutch find jobs to boost their income as households and businesses reel under the pressure of the cost of living crisis and the prospect of a shallow recession next year.

The seasonally adjusted ILO jobless rate fell to 3.6 percent from 3.7 percent in October, data from the Central Bureau of Statistics showed Thursday. An unemployment rate lower than this was last seen in June, when it was 3.4 percent.

The number of unemployed persons dropped to 364,000 from 365,000 in the previous month. That was the lowest figure since July.

In November, more than 10 million people were part of the labor force for the first time, the CBS said. The so-called gross labor participation rate was 75.3 percent, the highest since the series began almost 20 years ago.

The number of jobless benefits issued in November was 144,900, which was 4,600 less than a month earlier.

Earlier this month, ING predicted that the Dutch unemployment rate could rise to just above 4 percent in 2023, despite a meager growth outlook.

“We expect that a lot of firms will try to hang onto their personnel, given the short duration and mildness of the recession and the fact that all sectors recently faced a great deal of strain in the labour market,” ING economist Marcel Klok said.

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