Unemployment among ethnic minorities declines 18/03/2008 00:00

The unemployment rate among people of non-Western descent in the Netherlands fell sharply last year.

18 March 2008

VOORBURG – The unemployment rate among people of non-Western descent in the Netherlands fell sharply last year. At the end of 2007 9.1 percent of the working population in this group was unemployed.

At the end of 2006 that figure was 12.4 percent, according to figures published Tuesday by Statistics Netherlands.

Despite the significant decline, the unemployment rate is still higher among ethnic minorities than among native Dutch, though the gap is narrowing. Unemployment among native Dutch fell in the same period, but not as quickly, from 4.0 to 3.3 percent.

The decline in unemployment among minorities mainly occurred in the under-45 age bracket. Unemployment among 15 to 25-year-olds fell from 22 percent in 2006 to 15 percent in 2007, compared to an unemployment rate for their native Dutch peers of 8.6 percent in 2006, and 8.1 percent in 2007.

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2008]