Services sector accounts for over three-quarters of Dutch economy

Services can be divided up into commercial and non-commercial services. Providers of commercial services aim to make a profit. These include businesses that provide services in the areas of trade, transportation, hospitality, communications, finance, real estate and business services. Providers of commercial services accounted for 54 percent of total value added in the Netherlands in 2023. Value added refers to the value of production minus the cost of goods and services purchased, and is an indicator of the contribution made to economic output.

Non-commercial services are provided in the public sector, education and healthcare, as well as the relatively small culture, recreation and ‘other services’ sectors. These services accounted for 23 percent of total value added in 2023.

The importance of the services sector increased steadily to reach 79 percent of value added in 2016. Since 2016, the share of the economy made up by services has fallen slightly. This is partly due to the growing importance of the machinery sector, energy supply sector and construction sector. The expansion of these sectors has meant that the production of goods has increased again, as a share of the economy.

Share of business services has more than doubled since 1969

The structure of the Dutch economy changed between 1969 (the first year for which detailed data is available) and 2023. The share of the total value added of the manufacturing sector (down by 12.6 percentage points), agriculture and fishing (down by 4.3 percentage points) and the construction sector (down by 3.7 percentage points) fell sharply. At the same time, the share of services such as specialised business services (up by 5.6 percentage points), leasing and other business services (up by 5.1 percentage points), real estate (up by 4.0 percentage points) and healthcare (up by 3.7 percentage points) increased.

Over 80 percent of hours worked are in services

The increase in the economic importance of services is also reflected in the labour market. In 2023, services accounted for around 81 percent of total hours worked, up from 58 percent in 1969, the first year for which comparable data is available. Over the last decade, however, the share of services in economic output has stopped growing.

The growing share of the services sector in total hours worked is a result of the increased participation of women in the labour market. In 1969, women accounted for only 23 percent of total hours worked, but by 2023 this had increased to nearly 41 percent. In the goods sector, the proportion of hours worked by women declined steadily over the same period.