Edited by : Ellen Kalisperati,
Sociologist
Unemployment levels in Holland have increased again after a small decrease in February. Two thousand more people became unemployed in March according to the Dutch Statistics Office CBS.
The total number of unemployed in Holland grew to 465,000, which is 5,9 % of the working population. A year ago this was 5,1%. Younger people were hit relatively hard. During March 2011 the unemployment levels amongst younger people was 9,2%, whereas in 2012 this had increased to 11,8%.
The number of registered unemployed however, decreased in March to 296,000, a drop of 3,000, but the number of benefit claimants increased by 25,000 compared to the same period last year. The number of claimants rose the fastest in the age groups younger than 35 and younger than 55.
The expectations are that the level of unemployment will increase dramatically over the coming years. In 2011 389,000 people were unemployed, but the CPB (Central Planning Bureau) expects that to increase to well over half a million unemployed.
Even with this bleak outlook the Dutch economy is performing relatively better than most European economies.
Info from; http://blog.eurojobs.com