The Dutch UWV unemployment agency says there was an 81 percent jump in the number of people claiming unemployment benefit in 2009. This brought the total number of claimants to 310,000.
However, the agency was able to get over 250,000 people back to work. The UWV managed the extra pressure on its services by using extra staff, who included 650 ‘work coaches’ – personal contacts in the agency who answer questions and give practical tips.
Other official Dutch figures for 2009 show that highly qualified workers were left almost unscathed by the crisis. Nearly 94 percent of such people aged between 25 and 35 were in employment.
But, it wasn’t all good news from the CBS statistics office. While young women are increasingly often better qualified than their male counterparts, they appear to be losing out in the jobs market to men.
