The Dutch unemployment rate fell again in June to 550,000 people, or 6.1% of the working population. This is down from 6.6% at the end of December, the national statistics office CBS said on Thursday.

Unemployment has been dropping since February 2014, when it hit a peak of nearly 700,000.

The number of new unemployment benefit (ww) claims also fell over the past half year to 262,000. This is down 9% on the first half of 2015. The number of new claims from construction workers and people who work in the care industries were both down by over one fifth.

Some 438,000 people are currently claiming unemployment benefit, which is paid for a maximum of three years.