Unemployment rate barely changed in June

In June, nearly 3.6 million people aged 15 to 74 were not in paid work for a variety of reasons. In addition to the 370,000 unemployed, nearly 3.2 million people were not looking for work or were unable to find one immediately. Many of these people are retirees and people who cannot work because of illness or incapacity. These people are not counted as part of the labor force. The average for the past three months has been that the number of people not in the labor force has fallen by 5,000 per month.

UWV: Number of people receiving unemployment benefits fell by 1.7% in June

By the end of June 2024, the UWV had granted unemployment (WW) benefits to 167,800 recipients. Compared to May, this is a decrease of 3,000 people (-1.7%). The number of people receiving unemployment benefits usually falls at this time of year, as job opportunities in sectors such as construction and agriculture increase from the spring onwards. In June, 18,700 new unemployment benefits were granted, while 21,700 benefits were terminated.

UWV: Construction industry sees biggest drop in unemployment

Compared with the previous month, the industries with the largest decreases in the number of people receiving unemployment benefits were construction (down 8.0%), temporary employment agencies (down 6.2%), and agriculture, landscaping and fishing (down 5.3%). The industries with increases in the number of people receiving unemployment benefits were all industrial industries: metal industry (up 1.0%), food, beverages and tobacco industry (up 0.6%) and other manufacturing (up 0.3%). However, in terms of absolute numbers, the growth of these industries was limited.

The labor force grew by 160,000 last year

The unemployment rate has been hovering around 3.6 since the summer of 2023. During the same period, the net labor force participation rate has increased slightly, reaching 73.4% in the last three months. As the population is also growing, there were 88,000 more people employed in June 2024 than a year ago. At the same time, the number of unemployed people increased by 17,000. This means that the total labor force has increased by 105,000 people.

Unemployment rate stable

Unemployment trends are the result of underlying flows between employed people, unemployed people, and people out of the labor force. This trend is visualized in the chart below. The chart below shows how these different flows have changed over the past few months.

The unemployment rate can increase or decrease due to four different changes in people’s circumstances. Two of these changes can cause the unemployment rate to fall. The first change occurs when an unemployed person finds a job. The second change occurs when an unemployed person stops looking for a job and leaves the labor force. In June 2024, 235,000 people who were unemployed three months ago found a job.

There are also two opposite trends, which can lead to an increase in the unemployment rate. The first is when employed people become unemployed, and the second is when people who were previously unable to work decide to look for work. If people in these groups do not find work immediately, they become part of the unemployed labor force. The total number of unemployed people in June (234,000) is almost equal to the number of people who left the unemployed labor force. Therefore, the number of unemployed people has hardly changed in the past three months. The slight increase in the unemployment rate in the first few months of 2024 is mainly due to more people from outside the labor force deciding to look for work but not finding it immediately.

CBS publishes labour force data monthly in accordance with the guidelines of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The corresponding indicators, i.e. employed and unemployed labour force, are used around the world to describe the cyclical development of the labour market. In this respect, the monthly data are of vital importance. In addition, the UWV publishes its own monthly data on unemployment benefits. The data published by the UWV do not correspond directly to the labour force indicators. For more detailed information on the different sources, please see our Technical Description (Dutch only).