Covid-19 has hit us hard! Even when we are lost, we will come back stronger. Sooner or later.
According to De Telegraaf: The Dutch economy shrank by 8.5 percent in the second quarter of this year. The Central Bureau of Statistics has never before measured such an extreme contraction of the economy. The Netherlands is in a recession.
The corona crisis has plunged the Netherlands into recession. Gross domestic product (GDP) already shrank by 1.5 percent in the first quarter. “In six months, the Dutch economy has shrunk by 10 percent. That is unprecedented ”, says CBS chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen.
The coronavirus outbreak has unprecedented consequences for the labor market. In the second quarter of this year, there were 322,000 fewer jobs than in the previous quarter. This has wiped out the job growth of the past two years in one fell swoop according to NU.nl.
The total number of jobs includes both employees and self-employed persons and full-time and part-time jobs.
Many flex workers in particular lost their jobs, such as people who worked through an employment agency or had an annual contract that was not renewed. Hard blows fell to the cultural sector, trade, catering and business services.
There are now more than 10.5 million jobs in the Netherlands, reports CBS (Statistics Netherlands). Due to the corona crisis, many jobs were lost in the temporary employment sector (-130,000) and in trade, transport and catering (-123,000). CBS (Statistics Netherlands) could not yet say how many jobs have disappeared here in recent months.
The number of young people (15 to 25 years old) who have worked has decreased by 139,000 since the start of the corona crisis. Unemployment benefits have almost tripled: from 11,000 (February) to 31,000 (May). Those are the hard numbers.
The places where many young people work are the hardest in the corona crisis, says Rob Witjes, labor market expert at the UWV. “The catering industry, the events industry, the retail trade. In addition, 66 percent of young people have a flex contract. In 2008 this was 53 percent. Extremely many young people were added very quickly.”
Sources:
Leunissen, E. (2020, 14 August). Coronacrisis slaat hard toe op arbeidsmarkt, aantal banen fors gedaald. 1Limburg. https://www.1limburg.nl/coronacrisis-slaat-hard-toe-aantal-banen-daalt-fors
NU.nl. (2020, 4 August). Werkloosheid onder jongeren: “Pak alle kansen aan die je krijgt”. https://www.nu.nl/economie/6059832/werkloosheid-onder-jongeren-pak-alle-kansen-aan-die-je-krijgt.html
RTL Nieuws. (2020, 14 August). Bloedbad op de arbeidsmarkt: coronacrisis kost honderdduizenden banen. https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/economie/artikel/5177155/arbeidsmarkt-banen-vacatures-corona-werkloos
Visser, M. (2020, 14 August). Economie krimpt harder dan ooit, Nederland in een recessie. Telegraaf. https://www.telegraaf.nl/financieel/1546690038/economie-krimpt-harder-dan-ooit-nederland-in-een-recessie
