The CBS Business Cycle Tracer is a tool used to monitor the situation and the developments in the Dutch economy. It uses thirteen key macro-economic indicators. Together, these provide a coherent macro-economic picture which is based on CBS figures published over the past month or quarter. It does not represent the situation at the level of individual households, businesses or regions.

Show datatableBusiness Cycle Tracer indicator (unweighted average of the indicators in the CBS Business Cycle Tracer) (distance to the long-term trend (=0))Hide datatableBusiness Cycle Tracer indicator (unweighted average of the indicators in the CBS Business Cycle Tracer) (distance to the long-term trend (=0))
Year Month cycle
2011 January 0.11
February 0.21
March 0.27
April 0.32
May 0.38
June 0.4
July 0.39
August 0.36
September 0.28
October 0.19
November 0.1
December 0.01
2012 January -0.04
February -0.09
March -0.13
April -0.16
May -0.23
June -0.29
July -0.35
August -0.46
September -0.54
October -0.62
November -0.74
December -0.85
2013 January -0.93
February -1.06
March -1.14
April -1.2
May -1.27
June -1.3
July -1.3
August -1.29
September -1.23
October -1.16
November -1.07
December -0.99
2014 January -0.93
February -0.87
March -0.85
April -0.84
May -0.82
June -0.82
July -0.81
August -0.79
September -0.78
October -0.77
November -0.74
December -0.7
2015 January -0.65
February -0.6
March -0.54
April -0.49
May -0.43
June -0.38
July -0.34
August -0.3
September -0.27
October -0.26
November -0.24
December -0.23
2016 January -0.23
February -0.21
March -0.21
April -0.2
May -0.16
June -0.14
July -0.11
August -0.05
September -0.02
October 0.02
November 0.08
December 0.12
2017 January 0.16
February 0.22
March 0.27
April 0.31
May 0.36
June 0.39
July 0.42
August 0.48
September 0.51
October 0.55
November 0.6
December 0.64
2018 January 0.67
February 0.73
March 0.77
April 0.79
May 0.81
June 0.82
July 0.81
August 0.81
September 0.8
October 0.77
November 0.75
December 0.71
2019 January 0.65
February 0.61
March 0.56
April 0.52
May 0.5
June 0.48
July 0.45
August 0.41
September 0.37
October 0.34
November 0.3
December 0.28
'20 January 0.27

Consumer confidence equal, producer confidence virtually equal

In December, consumer confidence was the same as in November. Producer confidence in December was also more or less the same as in November. Both consumer and producer confidence are above the long-term average.

Show datatableConsumer and producer confidence (seasonally adjusted) (average of the component questions)Hide datatableConsumer and producer confidence (seasonally adjusted) (average of the component questions)
Year Month Consumer confidence Producer confidence
2014 January -6 0.7
February -2 -0.1
March 1 1.1
April 4 0.3
May 6 0.7
June 6 0.7
July 6 1.2
August 2 0
September -2 -0.2
October 1 2
November -2 2.4
December -4 3.4
2015 January -2 2.8
February -1 2
March 7 1.4
April 10 3.3
May 11 4.1
June 14 4.6
July 13 3.7
August 13 3.5
September 11 3.8
October 12 2.4
November 14 4
December 13 3
2016 January 11 3.2
February 7 3.1
March 2 3.9
April 6 4.7
May 7 4.4
June 11 5.4
July 9 5.1
August 9 1.2
September 12 3.4
October 17 4.3
November 21 3.4
December 21 4.7
2017 January 21 6
February 22 7
March 24 7.8
April 26 8.3
May 23 6.1
June 23 7.2
July 25 6.6
August 26 5.4
September 23 8.5
October 23 8.2
November 22 9.1
December 25 8.9
2018 January 24 10.3
February 23 10.9
March 24 9.5
April 25 8.2
May 23 9.8
June 23 7.7
July 23 6.3
August 21 5.9
September 19 5.7
October 15 5.9
November 13 7.2
December 9 7.5
2019 January 1 5.8
February -2 6.3
March -4 6.1
April -3 6.7
May -3 4.7
June 0 3.3
July 2 3.9
August 0 3.9
September -2 3.3
October -1 3.6
November -2 2.8
December -2 2.9

Investments, exports and household consumption growing

The total volume of goods exports grew by 4.1 percentin November year-on-year. Growth was lower than in the previous month. In November 2019, exports of petroleum products and machinery increased in particular.

In October, the volume in investments in tangible fixed assets was 5.6 percent up relative to the same month last year. This was mainly due to higher investments in aircraft, machinery and passenger cars.

Dutch consumers spent 1.7 percent more in October 2019 than in October 2018. The growth rate was lower than in the previous month.

Manufacturing output over 1 percent down in November

The average daily output generated by the Dutch manufacturing industry was 1.3 percent down in November 2019 compared to the same month one year previously. The year-on-year decline follows two months of modest output growth.

Number of bankruptcies down

Adjusted for court sesion days, there were 46 fewer corporate bankruptcies in December than in November 2019.The trend has been relatively stable in recent years.

Number of jobs continues to grow

In Q3 2019, the number of full-time and part-time jobs held by employees and self-employed rose by 20 thousand to 10.684 million jobs relative to the previous quarter, an increase of 0.2 percent. Over a period of twelve months, the number of jobs grew by 126 thousand. This is an increase of 1.2 percent.

The number of jobs has grown for over five consecutive years. Since Q2 2014, it has increased by 956 thousand. This job growth peaked in Q3 2017 at over 74 thousand.

The total number of hours worked by employees and self-employed reached a total of3.4 billion in Q3 2019. When adjusted for seasonal effects, this is 0.5 percent less than in the previous quarter.

At the end of September, the number of job vacancies stood at 288 thousand, up by 4 thousandcompared to the previous quarter. There are currently three times more vacancies than at the lowest point in 2013.

Unemployment (according to the ILO definition) rose slightly by an average of 1 thousand per month to 324 thousandin November. This means that 3.5 percent of the labour force were unemployed.

Due to rising unemployment, tension in the labour market has declined slightly. In Q3 2019, there were on average 90 job vacancies per 100 unemployed. In Q2 2019, there were 93 vacancies per 100 unemployed.

Show datatableGDP (volume), seasonally adjusted (2010=100)Hide datatableGDP (volume), seasonally adjusted (2010=100)
year quarter index
2012 Quarter 1 100.8
Quarter 2 100.9
Quarter 3 100.5
Quarter 4 99.8
2013 Quarter 1 100.1
Quarter 2 99.9
Quarter 3 100.5
Quarter 4 101.1
2014 Quarter 1 101
Quarter 2 101.6
Quarter 3 101.9
Quarter 4 102.8
2015 Quarter 1 103.4
Quarter 2 103.7
Quarter 3 104.1
Quarter 4 104.1
2016 Quarter 1 105.1
Quarter 2 105.3
Quarter 3 106.5
Quarter 4 107.4
2017 Quarter 1 107.9
Quarter 2 108.9
Quarter 3 109.7
Quarter 4 110.5
2018 Quarter 1 111.2
Quarter 2 111.9
Quarter 3 112.2
Quarter 4 112.8
2019 Quarter 1 113.3
Quarter 2 113.7
Quarter 3 114.2

0.4 percent GDP growth in Q3 2019

According to the second estimate of GDP conducted by CBS, gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.4 percent in Q3 2019 relative to the previous quarter. Growth was mainly due to the trade balance and government consumption. GDP grew by 1.9 percent relative to Q3 2018.

On Thursday 13 February 2020, CBS will publish the first estimate of GDP and employment over Q4 2019. In addition, the annual figures over 2019 will be published.

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CBS - Statistics Netherlands published this content on 15 January 2020 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 15 January 2020 14:27:00 UTC