Unemployment in Holland tops 6pc

18 March 2004

AMSTERDAM — Unemployment levels in the Netherlands have risen in recent months above 6 percent of the labour force, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said on Thursday.

The last time more than 6 percent of the working population was unemployed in the Netherlands was in 1997.

In the months of December 2003 and January and February this year, an average of 468,000 people were jobless. That is 128,000 more than the same period a year earlier.

An average of 6.2 percent of the labour force was out of work in the last quarter, compared with 4.6 percent a year earlier, the CBS said.

The CBS said that unemployment levels are always higher at the beginning of the year due to a slow down in agriculture and construction, but the current situation is worse than usual.

Excluding seasonal factors, about 464,000 would be unemployed in the Netherlands currently, about 6,000 more than a year earlier.

Subject: Dutch news