The state-run job centre organisation UWV expects Dutch firms to employ an extra 102,000 people this year, almost double the 2015 total.

However, unemployment among the over-55s will remain worryingly high, officials told reporters on Friday.

‘We are busy catching up but we still have a long way to go before we get back to 2008 levels,’ spokesman Rob Witjes told the NRC. In December 2008, the official Dutch unemploymen total was 321,000, over 250,000 fewer than last month.

The UWV figures do not differentiate between part-time and full-time jobs, or different sorts of contracts. However, a large proportion are likely to be flexible contracts, Witjes said.

Construction

The staffing agency sector will account for 59,000 of the new jobs, the UWV said, while the number of construction jobs will rise by 7,000. After years of decline, there will also be growth of 6,000 jobs in the care sector, particularly in child care. But there will again be fewer nursing jobs, the UVW said.

Nevertheless, social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher, who has been bringing in policies designed to increase job security, welcomed the figures. ‘We have seen that the economy is improving and that has now been confirmed,’ he told news agency ANP.