GDP growth rate 0.8 percent in Q2 2018

The growth rate is 0.1 percentage point higher than in the first estimate, which was published on 14 August. This is mainly due to an upward adjustment of household consumption and investments in dwellings and buildings. The export surplus was adjusted upwards slightly as well.

Second estimate

The second estimate is conducted 90 days after the end of the quarter. The first estimate, which is calculated 45 days after the end of the quarter, is based on the most recent data available at that moment. After the first estimate, more new information about the state of the Dutch economy keeps pouring in, e.g. data about the sectors construction business services, hotels and restaurants, government care and the financial sector. These data are subsequently incorporated into new calculations.

In absolute terms, adjustments in the second estimate relative to the first have averaged 0.1 percentage point over the past half decade, with the two extremes at - 0.3 and + 0.3 percentage point.

No adjustments of growth in previous quarters

With each new estimate, CBS also recalculates the seasonally adjusted series of previously published quarters. However, this has not resulted in adjustments of quarter-on-quarter growth in the previous three quarters.

Growth relative to Q2 2017

Year-on-year, the economic growth rate in Q2 was 3.1 percent, 0.2 percentage point higher than in the first estimate.

52 thousand new jobs

The second estimate shows that the number of employee and self-employed jobs increased by 52 thousand in Q2 2018 compared to Q1 2018. The first estimate also suggested an increase of 52 thousand jobs.

In Q2 2018, the second estimate suggested a growth of 248 thousand employee and self-employed jobs compared to the same quarter in 2017, the same as in the first estimate.