Economic picture more negative

The CBS Business Cycle Tracer is a tool used to monitor the state of the Dutch economy. It provides an overall macroeconomic picture of the past month or quarter, based on all the figures published by CBS. This picture will still vary between households, enterprises or regions, however.

Consumers remain negative and producers more negative

Tmood among consumers remained unchanged in August compared to the previous month, but producers were less negative.. Consumer and producer confidence were below the long-term average for the past two decades.

Household consumption, exports and investment down

Households spent 0.7 percent less in June 2024 year on year, adjusted for price changes and shopping-day pattern. They spent more on services, but less on goods.

In June 2024, the total volume of goods exported (adjusted for the number of working days) was down by 1.0 percent year on year. Export volumes were lower for machinery, food, beverages and tobacco, petroleum products and transport equipment, in particular.

In June 2024, the investment volume for tangible fixed assets was down by 10.3 percent year on year. This was mainly due to lower investment in buildings, infrastructure, aircraft, passenger cars and machinery. June 2024 included two fewer working days than June 2023.

Manufacturing output down by almost 5 percent in June

In June 2024, the calendar-adjusted output of Dutch manufacturing was 4.9 percent lower than it was in June 2023. Year-on-year output also contracted in the preceding eleven months. After adjusting for seasonal and calendar effects, manufacturing output rose by 0.8 percent in June relative to May.

More bankruptcies in July

Adjusted for the number of court session days, there were 24 more bankruptcies in July 2024 than in June. That was an increase of 6 percent. In the first seven months, approximately 43 percent more businesses were declared bankrupt than one year previously.

House prices up by almost 11 percent in July

In July 2024, existing owner-occupied dwellings were 10.6 percent more expensive, on average, relative to one year previously. That was the largest increase in almost two years. Prices were 1.4 percent higher in July than they were in June.

More hours worked, less vacancies and unemployment remained unchanged

In Q2 2023, the number of hours worked rose by 0.3 percent on the previous quarter after adjustment for seasonal effects. Employees and self-employed people worked a total of over 3.7 billion hours in Q2 2024.

A total of 370 thousand people aged 15 to 74 years were unemployed in July 2024, the same number as in the previous month. The unemployment rate was 3.6 percent, unchanged from May and June.

At the end of Q2 2024, there were 401 thousand vacancies, almost 10 thousand fewer than in the previous quarter. The number of vacancies has been falling for almost two consecutive years, with only a slight increase in Q1 2024.

In Q1 2024, the turnover of temporary employment and job placement agencies was 2.9 percent higher year on year.

Economic growth of 1.0 percent in Q2 2024

According to the first estimate from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 1.0 percent in Q2 2024, relative to the previous quarter. The growth in Q2 is mainly due to goods exports. Public consumption and investments also made a positive contribution. The increase in goods exports is also related to the growth seen in the manufacturing sector.