Economic picture deteriorates

These are the most recent figures on this topic. View the previous figures here.
© Tineke Dijkstra
The economic picture was more negative in April than it was in March, according to the CBS Business Cycle Tracer. In the Tracer for April, 12 out of the 13 indicators were performing below their long-term trend.

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 and producers more negative

Consumers and producers were more negative in April than they were in the previous month. Consumer and producer confidence were below the long-term average for the past twenty years.

Household consumption and exports up, investment down

In February 2025, the total volume of goods exported (adjusted for the number of working days) was up by 2.9 percent year on year. Export volumes were higher mainly for machinery, chemical and petroleum products.
 
Household spending was 2.1 percent higher in February 2025 than it was in February 2024, adjusted for price changes and the shopping-day pattern. Households spent more on both services and goods.
 
In February 2024, the volume of investment in tangible fixed assets was down by 3.6 percent year on year. This was mainly due to less investment in buildings and other road transport (lorries, trailers, vans, etc.).

Manufacturing output 1 percent higher in February

In February 2025, the calendar-adjusted output of the Dutch manufacturing sector was 1.0 percent higher than it was in February 2024. This was the second consecutive month in which there has been an increase in output, after a year and a half of declines. After adjustment for seasonal and calendar effects, manufacturing output rose by 1.2 percent in February relative to January.

Fewer bankruptcies in March

Adjusted for the number of court session days, there were 92 fewer bankruptcies in March than in February. That was a decrease of 25 percent.

House prices up by 10.6 percent in March

In March, the average price of an owner-occupied dwelling (excluding newbuild homes) was the same as in February, an increase of 10.6 percent year on year. Prices in March rose by 0.7 percent relative to February.

Fewer number of hours worked and vacancies, more people unemployed

In Q1 2025, employees and self-employed persons worked a total of over 3.7 billion hours. Adjusted for seasonal effects, this was 0.5 percent less than the previous quarter.
The number of vacancies decreased by nearly 7 thousand to 395 thousand in the first quarter of 2025.

Unemployment stood at 395 thousand in March 2025. The number of people unemployed increased by a monthly average of 7 thousand over the past three months. As a result, the unemployment rate amounted to 3.9 percent in March. This was 3.8 percent in February.

In Q4 2024, the turnover of temporary employment and job placement agencies was 0.8 percent higher than in Q4 2023.

Economic growth of 0.1 percent in Q1 2024

According to the first estimate by Statistics Netherlands (CBS), gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.1 percent in Q1 2025, relative to the previous quarter. GDP growth in the first quarter was mainly due to a smaller reduction in inventories. Public conumption also contributed positively.

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