Second estimate fourth quarter 2011: economy shrinks by 0.6 percent

The Dutch economy shrank by 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared with the same period in the previous year. This second estimate is 0.1 of a percentage point higher than the previous estimate published on 15 February. On the production side of the economy, the value added of mineral extraction, manufacturing, construction and business services have been adjusted upwards. The value added of financial institutions and housing services have been revised to lower figures however.

On the expenditure side, investment has been revised to a higher figure, while household consumption has been adjusted to a lower value, putting the economy deeper in the red. This adjustment is compensated by a positive revision for trade in services: the trade surplus was higher after adjustment. 

Economic growth in the first three quarters of 2011 was also re-examined. This resulted in a negative adjustment of 0.1 of a percentage point for the first quarter, to 2.7 percent. Economic growth in the second and third quarters remains unchanged, at 1.6 and 1.1 percent respectively. The adjustments for the first and fourth quarter have no net effect on the estimate of economic growth for the whole of 2011. This remains unchanged at 1.2 percent.

Quarter-on-quarter shrinkage 0.6 percent

After correction for working day and seasonal effects, the Dutch economy shrank by 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter of 2011. This quarter-on-quarter contraction is 0.1 of a percent higher than in the first estimate.

Modest jobs growth and wage increases in fourth quarter 2011

There were 34 thousand more employee jobs in the fourth quarter of 2011 than in the same quarter of 2010, an increase of 0.4 percent. This second estimate of jobs growth is 3 thousand higher than the first estimate. The number of jobs in the care sector in particular has been adjusted upwards. The average number of jobs for 2011 as a whole has been revised to 4 thousand above the first estimate, bringing jobs growth in 2011 to 40 thousand compared with 2010.

Wages per working year were 1.3 percent higher in the fourth quarter of  2011 than twelve months previously. For the whole of 2011 the increase was 1.5 percent.

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