The official Dutch unemployment rate continues to fall, hitting 2.7% in November – which is the lowest figure since the current method of calculating joblessness was introduced in 2003.

In total, the monthly jobless total fell by 26,000, compared with October, national statistics office CBS said. New coronavirus measures were introduced in November, with earlier closing times for shops, cinemas and the hospitality sector.

At the start of the coronavirus crisis, 426,000 people were officially classed as unemployed in the Netherlands, but their number has now gone down to 251,000.

Almost 190,000 people are currently claiming unemployment benefits (ww), a drop of 31.5% year on year.

Next month, however, the unemployment rate will rise again, when the CBS adopts  EU harmonised methodology. If the new system had been used in November, the unemployment rate would be 3.7%, but that would also be a 20 year low, the CBS said.