Dutch unemployment fell to 3.8% in June

Unemployment in the Netherlands fell to 3.8% in June, with 393,000 people out of work, according to national statistics office CBS. The number of unemployed has dropped by an average of 5,000 a month over the past three months.

The fall is not only down to people finding jobs. The number of people in work also declined, by an average of 6,000 a month, as more people stopped working and left the labour market, either temporarily or for good.

Unemployment has eased since the start of the year, when around 416,000 people were out of work. Alongside June’s 393,000 unemployed, a further 3.2 million people were not seeking work or not available to start, most of them retired, ill or unable to work.

Separately, the benefits agency UWV recorded 197,000 unemployment benefit claims at the end of June, down 1.2% on May. The biggest falls came in construction, agriculture and temporary work, where claims usually drop in spring as seasonal jobs pick up.