Economic picture less negative in November

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The economic picture was less negative in November than in October, according to the CBS Business Cycle Tracer. In the Tracer for November, 10 of the 13 indicators were 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 less negative, producers more negative

Consumers were less negative in November than in the previous month, but producer confidence was lower. Consumer and producer confidence were both below the long-term average for the past twenty years.  

Household consumption, exports and investment up

Household spending was 0.8 percent higher in September 2025 than it was in September 2024, adjusted for price changes and the shopping-day pattern. Households spent more on services, in particular.

In September 2025, the total volume of goods exported (adjusted for the number of working days) was up by 2.6 percent year on year. Export volumes were higher for machinery, transport equipment and crude oil and natural gas.

In September 2025, the volume of investment in tangible fixed assets was up by 2.7 percent year on year. This was mainly due to more investment in aircraft, buildings, machinery (including defence equipment) and infra structure.

Manufacturing output over 2 percent higher in September year on year

In September 2025, the calendar-adjusted output of the Dutch manufacturing sector was 2.1 percent higher than it was in September 2024. After adjusting for seasonal and calendar effects, manufacturing output rose by 0.1 percent relative to August.

Fewer bankruptcies in October

Adjusted for the number of court session days, there were 23 fewer bankruptcies in October than in September, a decrease of 8 percent.

House prices up by almost 7 percent in October, year on year

The average price for an owner-occupied home (excluding newbuild homes) was 6.6 percent higher in October 2025, year on year. Prices in October rose by 0.5 percent relative to September.

More hours worked, fewer vacancies, unemployment up

There were 411 thousand unemployed persons in October 2025. Just as in September, 4.0 percent of the labour force aged 15 to 74 years were unemployed. The number of unemployed persons has risen by an average of 8 thousand per month over the past three months.

In Q3 2025, employees and self-employed persons worked over 3.7 billion hours in total. Adjusted for seasonal effects, this number was up by 0.2 percent on Q2.

The number of vacancies decreased by 2 thousand to 387 thousand in the third quarter of 2025. The number of vacancies has fallen in almost every quarter for three consecutive years.

In Q2 2025, the turnover of temporary employment and job placement agencies was 0.3 percent lower year on year.

Economic growth of 0.4 percent in Q3 2025

According to the first estimate conducted by Statistics Netherlands (CBS), gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.4 percent in Q3 2025 relative to Q2 2025. This growth was mainly attributable to exports and public consumption.

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