Economic picture slightly 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 figures published by CBS. This picture will still vary between households, enterprises or regions, however.

Consumers more negative, producers less negative

Consumers were more negative in February than they were in January, while producers were less negative. Consumer confidence was below the long-term average for the past twenty years, and producer confidence was slightly above average.

Household consumption and investment up, exports down

Household spending was 1.8 percent higher in December 2024 than it was in December 2023, adjusted for price changes and the shopping-day pattern. Households spent more on both services and goods.

In December 2024, the volume of investment in tangible fixed assets was up by 9.7 percent year on year. This was mainly due to higher investments in other road transport (lorries, trailers, vans, etc.), passenger cars and aircraft. The increase in investment in road vehicles coincides with the tax changes that took effect on 1 January 2025 and new rules regarding environmental zones in a number of cities in the Netherlands.

In December 2024, the total volume of goods exported (adjusted for the number of working days) was down by 1.1 percent year on year. Export volumes were lower for petroleum products, crude oil and natural gas.

Manufacturing output over 4 percent lower in December

The calendar-adjusted output of the Dutch manufacturing sector was 4.4 percent lower in December 2024 than it was in December 2023. After adjustment for seasonal and calendar effects, manufacturing output fell by 1.0 percent in December relative to November.

Number of bankruptcies remained the same in January

Adjusted for the number of court session days, the number of companies declared bankrupt in January was the same as in December. The number of bankruptcies has not increased since 2024.

House prices up by 11.5 percent in January

Prices of owner-occupied dwellings (excluding new build ) were 11.5 percent higher in January 2025 than one year previously, on average. In January, prices were up by 1.6 percent from December 2024.

Same number of hours worked, more vacancies, more unemployed

In Q4 204, employees and self-employed people worked a total of over 3.7 billion hours, the same number as in the previous quarter after adjustment for seasonal effects.

At the end of Q4 2024, there were almost 404 thousand vacancies, 7 thousand more than in the previous quarter.

Unemployment stood at 386 thousand in January 2025. This is 3.8 percent of the labour force, which means that the unemployment rate has risen for the first time in five months. From November to January, an average of three thousand people per month became unemployed.

In Q3 2024, the turnover of temporary employment and job placement agencies was 2.6 percent higher than in Q3 2023.

Economic growth of 0.4 percent in Q4 2024

According to the first estimate from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.4 percent in Q4 2024 relative to the previous quarter. In Q3 the economy grew by 0.8 percent. The growth that occurred in Q4 was mainly due to the trade balance and investment. Consumption also made a positive contribution.