Income Support Claimants in Smaller NL Towns More Likely to Find Work

Just over 9 percent of people claiming income support in the Netherlands at the end of 2010 found a job in 2011. This percentage was the highest in smaller municipalities. In municipalities with more than one hundred thousand inhabitants, income support claimants in Zoetermeer were most successful in finding a job, those in Amsterdam were least successful.

Claimants in municipality with 10 to 50 thousand inhabitants most likely to find work

Nearly 350 thousand people in the Netherlands were claiming income support at the end of 2010. Four in ten income support claimants  lived in a municipality with fewer than one hundred thousand inhabitants. In these municipalities 11 percent of claimants changed from claiming benefit to paid work in 2011. Municipalities with 10 to 50 thousand inhabitants had the highest rate of job-finding income support claimants.

Not all income support claimants have the same chance of finding a job. Some have been receiving the benefit for a long time, or are difficult to place in work. In addition, regional labour markets and the effort put in by the municipality also play a part.