Expatica news

Dutch jobs growth tipped to rise sharply

14 June 2006

AMSTERDAM — The number of jobs in the Netherlands will continue to rise sharply over the next few years, according to the national Centre for Work and Income (CWI).

There will be an extra 162,000 vacancies in 2007 with an annual average of 130,000 in the next few years after that. The number of unemployed job seekers will decline by tens of thousands a year. But the CWI said the prospects for the lower educated and seniors will remain unfavourable.

These are the main findings of the CWI’s labour market prognosis for 2006-2011 which will be presented at a congress on Thursday.

The growth in jobs will be greatest in the business services sector which includes IT, temp agencies and consultancies, healthcare and retail. The increase in the industrial sector will be slight, the CWI expects.

The working population will increase by 100,000 in 2007, followed by average increases of 74,000 in the following years. This will be almost exclusively because of more women and seniors working. The greying of the population will influence the size of the workforce from 2011, according to the CWI report.

The number of non-working job seekers will drop by 40,000 this year and by 80,000 in 2007. The CWI is pushing for more emphasis on re-training and mediation to help the lower skilled and seniors back to work. 

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2006]

Subject: Dutch news