Benefit agency expects fewer jobless claims, bringing €500m windfall

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit (ww) is set to fall this year bringing the government a €500m windfall, the state-run benefit agency UWV said on Tuesday.

The UWV is now expecting 25,000 fewer people to be claiming unemployment benefits (ww) than its earlier estimates by the end of 2014 as the economy begins to pick up.

However, the organisation does still expect the number of people claiming the benefit to rise to 460,000 over the year, with the cost increasing to €7.5bn.

Despite the windfall, the financial shortfall in the unemployment benefit funds continues to grow, the organisation said. At the end of 2013, the shortfall was €6.4bn. This is expected to rise to €8.8bn by the end of 2014.

The organisation does expect the number of unemployment claimants to stabilise in 2015.

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