‘Foreigner Unemployment’ High But Stable
Expatica, Feb. 13, 2006
AMSTERDAM — Unemployment among “non-western foreigners” or allochtonen hardly rose in 2005, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) said in a report published on Monday.
Unemployment among native Dutch people remained at about the same level too. But non-western foreigners, as they are referred to in the Netherlands, were three times as likely as the Dutch to be unemployed. “This ratio has not changed since 2001,” the CBS said.
An average of 6.5 percent of the total labour force in the Netherlands was unemployed in 2005. For population groups with a non-western background the rate was more than 16 percent. Unemployment among these groups was at about the same level as one year previously.
“The growth rate of unemployment among non-western foreigners fell to nearly zero in 2005. In the period 2001-2004 unemployment rose sharply, “ the CBS said.
Just over 5 percent of native Dutch people were unemployed in 2005. This is the same proportion as in 2004. Unemployment among western foreigners was higher than in the previous year. More than 9 percent were unemployed, up from just over 8 percent in 2004.
Some 26,000 non-western foreigners in the age group 15-24 years were unemployed. This is the equivalent of 26 percent of the young non-western labour force in the Netherlands. In 2004 nearly 23 percent were unemployed.
Unemployment among their native Dutch peers was much lower. In 2005 11 percent were unemployed, slightly fewer than one year previously. “Since 2001 young people in the Netherlands with a non-western background are more than twice as likely as native Dutch people to be unemployed,” the CBS report said.
Unemployment among non-westerners aged 25 years and older is also substantially higher than among Dutch people of the same age. In 2005 15 percent of non-western foreigners aged 25-44 years were out of work, compared with just over 4 percent of native Dutch people.
Moroccans had the highest rate of unemployment (20 percent) in 2005 of all non-western population groups in the Netherlands.
Among Antilleans and Arubans, too, unemployment was high at 18 percent. The rates were much lower for Turkish and Surinamese people, namely 14 and 12 percent respectively. Unemployment among the other non-western groups was very high at 19 percent.
