The coronavirus crisis is having its most serious impact on the jobs market in Drenthe and Friesland, national statistics office CBS said on Tuesday.

Although the percentage of the population in paid jobs has gone down nationwide, the two northern provinces have been proportionally the hardest hit so far, the CBS said.

In both provinces the percentage of the population in work fell by 1.2 percentage points in the third quarter of the year, just 0.1 percent point more than in Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland and Overijssel. However, employers in the two provinces were also least likely to apply for government help in paying wages, the CBS said.

The CBS said it had not investigated the link between applying for wage support and the impact on jobs.

In the other northern province, Groningen, there was virtually no change in the percentage of people in work.

The economy in Noord-Holland has also contracted most strongly, by at least -5%, while in Flevoland, the economic impact of the pandemic has been minor so far, the new CBS figures show.