According to the latest figures by Statistics Netherlands there were on average 415 thousand people unemployed in the period May-July 2006, 82 thousand less than the year before.
Statistics Netherlands announces that in the period May-July 2006 some 5.5 percent of the labour force was unemployed. A year earlier this was 6.7 percent.
Downward trend in unemployment In the period May-July unemployment is always a bit higher, since students enter the job market and look for work during the holidays.
The seasonally corrected unemployment figure is 406 thousand, about the same as in the period April-June 2006. Unemployment perceived over a longer period of time is falling. In the past six months unemployment fell by an average of thousand a month.
Far fewer people under 45 unemployed In the period May-July 2006 there were 82 thousand fewer people unemployed than the year before. Unemployment decreased mainly among people aged under 45.
The number of young unemployed fell by 27 thousand to 100 thousand within the year. Unemployment among people aged 25-44 fell by 51 thousand. There was a relatively small decrease in unemployment, by 4 thousand, among people aged over 45.
Unemployment well above the 2001 level The seasonally corrected unemployment figure peaked by the end of 2004 and the start of 2005 at over 490 thousand unemployed. Since then the number of unemployed has dropped to 406 thousand.
This brings unemployment back to the level of the summer of 2003. It is still well above the low reached in the second quarter of 2001, when 234 thousand people were unemployed and the job market was very tight.
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