Hoogeveen

The actions of the municipal authority are directed on all fronts at maintaining the level of amenities and retaining and strengthening the city’s regional function. Hoogeveen is a relatively young city. Founded only 400 years ago on a commodities exchange spot, at the junction of two inland navigation channels, the city is orthogonal in structure, without the classical historic centre around a church. It is well organised, though, with wide, straight streets running up and down parallel to the main avenue and the high street.

Key business and employment sectors today in Hoogeveen are the aerospace industry (Fokker Dutch aircraft manufacturer has a plant in the city outskirts) and logistics (Sent Waninge, Ambrosius and Otten Transport have plants in the industrial area), which in turn creates a lot of spin offs, such as national insurance companies (TVM and Unigarant) and educational centres (Kreeft and Alfacollege). These educational institutions deliver new employees, i.e. to the health sector: one, in particular, is the Bethesda Hospital, one of the biggest employers in the city.

Hoogeveen has not been left unscathed by the global economic crisis. The relevant share of industrial jobs has led to unemployment rising relatively more here than in many other municipalities. Two years ago the level of unemployment was approximately 15%, today is somewhere above 11%. In very recent years the city has experienced a  cautious growth in virtually all sectors (although retail is lagging somewhat behind).