Downturn in optimism among business services

Companies providing business services remained optimistic about the future in April, although their positive mood has been under pressure since January. The number of business services providers expecting to receive more orders and to generate a higher turnover in the next three months still exceeded those anticipating a decline, but their preponderance is diminishing.

Business services providers expect employment in their branch to expand. On balance, 21 percent expect to hire more staff in the next three months. Over one third of companies in the business services sector report that shortage of manpower is hampering production growth. The shortage is felt most acutely by temp agencies. In preceding months, IT was the sector most keen to recruit new staff.

In April, Dutch business services providers were pleased with the number of orders they received in March. A net 19 percent value the number of orders received as ‘good’, given the time of year. This percentage is slightly lower than in the preceding months. Providers of business services are also positive about the economic climate in general. However, for the fourth month in a row now they are less positive than in the previous month.

Opinion on orders received in business services