The number of people receiving social assistance benefits continues to decrease. At the end of September, 419,000 people up to the state pension age were receiving social assistance benefits. That is almost 5,500 fewer than a year earlier and more than 2,000 fewer than at the start of the corona crisis, CBS reports.
It is the second quarter in a row that there were fewer social assistance recipients than one year previously. CBS chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen suspects that the tight labor market is by far the most important cause.
“For more than half of the people on social assistance benefits, the benefit is more or less a final destination, due to illness or incapacity for work,” says Van Mulligen. “For the rest, they can now get out of social assistance relatively quickly.”
Labor participation
Typical of the current labor market, Van Mulligen refers to the labor participation rate, the part of the population that has paid work. “It is approaching 70 percent. Never before has it been this high.”
The TOZO was not included in the count of social assistance recipients. The TOZO is a living allowance for independent entrepreneurs who have been affected by the corona crisis. About the same rules apply to this benefit as to social assistance.
–
