Economy grows on confidence boost as unemployment falls

The economic situation in the Netherlands looked slightly better in August 2015 than in July, according to Statistics Netherlands' Business Cycle Tracer. Almost all indicators on the Tracer performed better in August than their long-term trends.

The Tracer includes almost all economic information that Statistics Netherlands has published over the past month or quarter, and is used to determine the position and course of the Dutch economy.

Both producer and consumer confidence are well above the long term average. The confidence of manufacturing companies remained at about the same positive level in August. Consumer confidence improved slightly, due to the more positive outlook about the economic climate.

Investments, household consumption and exports goods showed growth. Investment grew significantly in June - the volume of investments in tangible fixed assets was over 22 percent higher than in June last year. Consumer spending increased by 2.2 percent in June, compared to the same period last year. And exports also showed a slight growth 1.7 percent.

The average daily output of the Dutch manufacturing industry was 3.6 percent higher in June than in the same month last year. This is the fourth consecutive month that the industry has produced more than in the same period last year.

The unemployment rate also decreased as the labor market recovers. Over the past three months the number of unemployed declined with 22 thousand people, bringing the unemployment rate to 6.8 percent in July. The number of jobs increased in the second quarter by 19 thousand, compared to the previous quarter. The number of open vacancies in the Netherlands increased by 6 thousand.

The number of bankruptcies in July were about the same as in June. The number of bankruptcies is currently at its lowest level since January 2009.

The Dutch economy is also continuing to grow, despite the reduction in natural gas production. The first calculations on August 14th showed that the Dutch economy grew 0.1 percent in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter. The economy is almost back to the level it was before the crisis in 2008.