Unemployment rises faster among migrants in the Netherlands

Unemployment in the Netherlands has risen faster among people born abroad than among the population as a whole since 2025, with the sharpest increase among young migrants, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) says.

The unemployment rate for people born abroad rose from 5.8% in 2024 to 6.9% in the first three quarters of 2026. For people born in the Netherlands to at least one foreign-born parent, it increased from 5.3% to 6.0%. Among people born in the Netherlands to two Dutch-born parents, it edged up from 2.9% to 3.0%. The overall rate rose from 3.7% to 4.0% over the same period.

The figures, published alongside CBS’s 2026 Integration and Society report, cover the first three quarters of 2026 and are not full-year results. The gap between migrants’ unemployment rate and the national average had narrowed until 2022, then remained stable through 2024, CBS says.

Among 15- to 24-year-olds born abroad, unemployment rose from 12.9% in 2024 to 14.8% in 2025, and increased further in the first three quarters of 2026. The rate for the same age group born in the Netherlands to at least one foreign-born parent also continued to rise after reaching 12.1% in 2025. By contrast, unemployment among young people of Dutch heritage fell from 7.2% in 2024 to 6.9% in 2025, before rising slightly in 2026.

CBS says migrants are, on average, younger, and younger people generally face higher unemployment. The difference between migrants and the average also widened slightly from 2025 among people aged 25 to 44 and those aged 45 to state pension age.

Education is another factor in the figures. Among people aged 25 to state pension age, unemployment was higher for migrants without a basic qualification than for those with one. A basic qualification is a completed senior general or pre-university secondary education, or at least level-two vocational training. In the first three quarters of 2026, the unemployment rate was 6.5% for migrants without such a qualification and 5.5% for those with one.