Consumers remain negative and producers more negative
Tmood among consumers remained unchanged in August compared to the previous month, but producers were less negative.. Consumer and producer confidence were below the long-term average for the past two decades.
House prices up by almost 11 percent in July
In July 2024, existing owner-occupied dwellings were 10.6 percent more expensive, on average, relative to one year previously. That was the largest increase in almost two years. Prices were 1.4 percent higher in July than they were in June.
More hours worked, less vacancies and unemployment remained unchanged
In Q2 2023, the number of hours worked rose by 0.3 percent on the previous quarter after adjustment for seasonal effects. Employees and self-employed people worked a total of over 3.7 billion hours in Q2 2024.
A total of 370 thousand people aged 15 to 74 years were unemployed in July 2024, the same number as in the previous month. The unemployment rate was 3.6 percent, unchanged from May and June.
At the end of Q2 2024, there were 401 thousand vacancies, almost 10 thousand fewer than in the previous quarter. The number of vacancies has been falling for almost two consecutive years, with only a slight increase in Q1 2024.
In Q1 2024, the turnover of temporary employment and job placement agencies was 2.9 percent higher year on year.
Economic growth of 1.0 percent in Q2 2024
According to the first estimate from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 1.0 percent in Q2 2024, relative to the previous quarter. The growth in Q2 is mainly due to goods exports. Public consumption and investments also made a positive contribution. The increase in goods exports is also related to the growth seen in the manufacturing sector.
Source, graph and more information: https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/news/2024/35/economic-picture-more-negative