Economic situation improved considerably

The economic situation at the end of August has improved considerably relative to the end of July. This is predominantly due to the economic growth and a careful recovery of the labour market. The heart of the scatter in the Business Cycle Tracer has moved from the recession stage to the recovery stage.

The Dutch economy continued to grow in the second quarter of 2010. The volume of the gross domestic product was up by 2.1 percent on the second quarter of 2009. The increase was clearly more substantial than in the first quarter. Compared to the preceding quarter the economy grew by 0.9 percent in the second quarter, taking calendar and seasonal effects into account.

Exports of goods and services grew substantially. The volume of exports was up 11.5 percent on the second quarter of 2009. With 13.5 percent, the volume of imports was also considerably higher. Household consumption grew by 0.7 percent. Fixed capital formation was down by 4.8 percent on one year previously. This was a much less substantial decrease than in the preceding quarters

The consumer confidence indicator improved further to -11 in August. The mood among manufacturers and providers of business services also improved.

In July, the capital market interest rate remained stable at 2.9 percent. Dutch inflation rose to 1.6 percent. Selling prices in manufacturing industry were 9 percent higher than in July 2009.

The situation on the labour market has improved marginally. Seasonally adjusted unemployment dropped further to 426 thousand in July. The number of jobs in the second quarter increased by 0.2 percent relative to the first quarter. The number of hours worked in temp jobs increased by nearly 5 percent. At the end of June, the number of vacancies was approximately the same as at the end of March.

Gross domestic product (GDP)