The unemployment rate grew fastest in Zuid-Holland province in 2010 and The Hague showed the biggest increase of the four big cities, the national statistics office CBS said on Monday.

Despite the improvement in the jobless figures overall last year, the unemployment rate also grew in Gelderland and Noord-Brabant, the CBS said.
Rotterdam continued to have the highest jobless total, at 8.8% last year, while Utrecht had the lowest rate at 5.2%. But in The Hague, the rate grew from 5.5% at end 2009 to 6.8%. In Amsterdam, the jobless total was stable at 6.6%.