As jobless total goes down, 1.3 million Dutch people would like a job or more hours

The Dutch unemployment rate may have dipped below 5% this year but there are still 1.3 million people who would like a job or who would like to work longer hours, the national statistics agency CBS said on Wednesday.

Nevertheless, the number of people classed as ‘unused potential’ has gone down 200,000 over the past year.

Of the 1.3 million, some 451,000 are officially unemployed, a further 436,000 would like a job and are looking for work, and 460,000 were part-timers who want more hours, the CBS said.

The CBS puts the Dutch working population at nine million, of whom 4.1 million work part time and 4.4 million have a full time job.

A further 3.9 million people aged 15 to 75 are not in work and not looking for a job, mainly because they are retired (1.56 million) or claiming some form of invalidity benefit (750,000). A further 440,000 people are still in education.