Unemployment in the Netherlands dropped slightly in April, with the jobless rate falling from 3.9% in March to 3.8%, national statistics agency CBS said on Wednesday.

There were officially 387,000 unemployed people in April, a small drop following several months of increases. Over the past three months, the average number of unemployed remained virtually unchanged, while the number of people in paid jobs rose by an average of 3,000 per month.

At the same time, 3.2 million people aged between 15 and 75 are not part of the labour force — meaning they were not working, not looking for work, or not available to start. This group includes students, pensioners and people unable to work due to illness or disability.

Benefits agency UWV said 184,000 people are currently claiming unemployment benefits (WW), a drop of 5,400 compared with the previous month.

The number of claims fell across all sectors, with the sharpest drops recorded temping (-6.4%), agriculture and fisheries (-5.5%), and hospitality and catering (-4.6%).