The Netherlands may be just out of recession but the jobs market prospects remain gloomy, according to a report by Maastricht University researchers.

The report by the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market, shows the number of jobs in the Netherlands will have declined by 14,000 by 2018. School leavers and university graduates will find it hard to get a job and those which do became available will be to replace existing staff.

The researchers expect government cutbacks to lead to a 2% reduction in civil service numbers. There will be job opportunities in sectors where the average age of the workforce is high but in those with a young workforce, like IT, jobs will be scarce.

The care sector will continue to be the main jobs motor but this will also be lower than in recent years because of spending cuts.

Some 7.4 million people in the Netherlands have a job of at least 12 hours a week. According to the national statistics office CBS, 674,000 people are officially unemployed.