Jobless benefit claims rise 2% in August, youngsters hit hardest

Thursday 20 September 2012

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit rose 2% in August to 304,000, the benefit payment agency UWV said on Thursday.

Youngsters and people working in the education sector accounted for a large proportion of the new claims.

The UWV said there is always a peak in education sector claims in the summer but this has been increasing in size in recent years.

A report by Deloitte earlier this month said Dutch primary schools shed 6,000 jobs last year and more jobs will go in 2012, largely due to spending cuts.

Jobless total

Other figures out on Thursday from the national statistics office CBS showed 8,000 more people joined the official unemployment register in August, taking the total to 514,000.

Almost 13% of 15 to 25-year-olds are now looking for work, the CBS said. The official unemployment rate in the Netherlands is now 6.5%, compared with 5.4% a year ago.

© DutchNews.nl