In the third quarter of this year 13,100 housing construction permits were issued, 24 percent less than in the same period last year, according to figures Statistics Netherlands released. This is the third consecutive quarter in which fewer permits were issued than a year earlier.
Up to and including September, a total of 40 thousand construction permits were issued to build new homes. For comparison, throughout all of 2018 a total of 70 thousand housing construction permits were issued.
In the second quarter of this year, the Dutch economy grew by 0.5 percent compared to the first quarter - the same growth as in the previous two quarters. Compared to the second quarter of last year, the Dutch economy grew by 1.8 percent adjusted for the number of working days, Statistics Netherlands reported on Wednesday. The economic growth in the second quarter was higher than expected.
Of all working people in the Netherlands, freelancers are most often at risk of dropping below the poverty line, Statistics Netherlands reported on Tuesday. In 2017 the percentage of freelancers - self-employed persons with no employees - at risk of earning less than they need increased, while the number of employees at risk of poverty has been decreasing for years.
Monday's heavy snowfall, and the problems in traffic and productivity it caused, cost the Dutch economy around 35 million euros, according to calculations by the Economic Research Foundation and Statistics Netherlands chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen, BNR reports.
If there is a whole business day in which no work is done in a quarter, like when Christmas falls on a week day, it costs the Netherlands' GDP 0.2 to 0.3 percent of growth, Van Mulligen said to the broadcaster. That amounts to 350 million euros the Netherlands' economy loses out on.
Compared to other EU countries, people in the Netherlands are relatively often employed, but at the same time work almost the least number of hours per week, according to figures Statistics Netherlands released on Tuesday.
Of the 12.8 million people in the Netherlands between the ages of 15 and 75 years, 65.8 percent had paid work last year, according to the stats office. That is roughly seven out of ten men and six out of ten women. In the European Union, only Sweden, Germany and Estonia have higher employment rates.
The average price of airfare rose by 5.4 percent last year despite a sharp drop in the price of oil, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS) figures provided to NOS. The price of holiday packages also went up by 1.5 percent.
