In June, 74,000 people became unemployed in the Netherlands, bringing the total number of unemployed people in the Netherlands to 404,000, the CBS reports.
This is the most rapid monthly increase in unemployment seen since monthly measurements began in 2003. It is the delayed result of the coronavirus crisis. The majority of those who have lost their jobs are young people, between 15 and 25 years of age. In a single month, the total unemployment rate rose from 3.6% to 4.3%, meaning that more people need to rely on unemployment benefit to survive. Since March, the number of unemployed people has grown by 131,000.
“Unemployment had a delayed reaction to the shock that we saw earlier in the economy from the corona measures,” says CBS economist Peter Hein van Mulligen. In June, the first NOW grant for businesses expired. This was a government aid package for businesses, and it imposed fines on companies that fired employees. Although there is a second NOW package available, some companies have chosen not to take it, and instead have let (some of) their employees go.
However, businesses letting their workers go is not the only reason why unemployment has risen so sharply in June. It’s also because a person must be actively searching for work to count as unemployed in the official statistics. During the lockdown, people may have been out of work, but not necessarily looking for a new job either. Now that the coronavirus crisis appears to be winding down, some of those people are now actively searching for work, and are therefore adding to the official unemployment statistics.
Some people have managed to find a job again. In June, the number of employed people grew by 45,000. In comparison to the past months, we’re seeing growth both in the number of unemployed people, and in the number of employed people.
What has your experience been of the economic implications of the coronavirus crisis in the Netherlands? Let us know in the comments below.
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