In October 2023, Dutch consumers were slightly less negative than they were in the previous month. Consumer confidence was positioned far below the long-term average over the past two decades. Producers were also slightly less negative than in September. Producer confidence was also below the 20-year average, CBS said in a press release.

In August 2023, the average daily output of the Dutch manufacturing industry was 8.0 per cent lower than in August 2022. Output also contracted year on year in the preceding months. Relative to July, output fell by 0.7 per cent in August.

In Q2 2023, the number of hours worked, adjusted for seasonal effects, was 0.2 per cent lower than in the previous quarter. Total hours worked by employees and self-employed people over Q2 2023 amounted to over 3.6 billion.

At the end of Q2 there were 427,000 unfilled vacancies, 10,000 fewer than at the end of Q1 2023. The number of vacancies started to decrease as of Q3 2022 after eight consecutive quarters of growth (mid-2020 to mid-2022).

In September, 371,000 people aged 15–74 years were unemployed. This is 3.7 per cent of the labour force. From July through September, unemployment rose by an average of 6,000 per month.

In Q2 2023, turnover at temporary employment and job placement agencies fell by 0.3 per cent relative to the previous quarter.

According to the second quarterly estimate conducted by CBS, in Q2 2023 the volume of gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.2 per cent relative to the previous quarter. In Q1 2023, GDP fell by 0.4 per cent. The contraction in Q2 is mainly due to a decrease in the trade balance and in household consumption.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)