AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Unemployment rose at its fastest pace on record in the Netherlands in April as lockdown measures began to hit the economy with young workers hit hardest, Statistics Netherlands said on Wednesday.
The unemployment rate rose to 3.4% in April from a near record low of 2.9% in March, the CBS said in a statement.
The number of applicants for unemployment benefits in April rose nearly 17% versus March and was up 13% year on year, the CBS said.
“The number of people with paid work in April fell by 160,000 to 8.9 million,” it said.
“A fall of that magnitude has not happened since monthly statistics began to be compiled (in 2003).”
The hardest hit demographic was workers aged 15-25, it said.
The number of cases of the coronavirus rose by 108 to 44,249 on Tuesday, with 21 new deaths. The death toll in the Netherlands stood at 5,715, national health authorities said.
(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; editing by Jason Neely)
