The labor market shortage seems to have passed its peak: for the first time in two years, the number of job vacancies has decreased. Unemployment is also increasing slightly, according to Statistics Netherlands.

At the end of September, there were nearly 450,000 job vacancies, 17,000 fewer than at the end of the second quarter. Fewer people were sought, especially in trade and catering, although these two branches still lacked over 128,000 people.

Despite the decline, there is still a shortage in the labor market, which means that there are more vacancies than the unemployed. In health care, transportation, warehousing and education, for example, the shortfall was slightly larger than in the previous quarter.

To investigate shortages in the labor market, the Central Bureau of Statistics looks at the number of job vacancies per 100 unemployed people. At the moment they can choose from 121 vacancies:

Statistics Netherlands not only looked at the number of vacancies, but also at the number of existing ones. This is still on the rise, especially as self-employed people fill these positions more often. There is actually less work in the temporary employment sector.

The number of employees with flexible contracts decreased by about 100,000 compared to the previous quarter. This is mainly because they are in permanent employment.