It is time to start investing in the Netherlands again, unions and employers said on Tuesday, citing the need to get people working and to cut tax as their main demands.

The two main union federations and employers group VNO-NCW were reacting to figures published earlier on Tuesday in which the government’s macro-economic forecasting agency CPB upwardly revised its earlier forecasts to growth of 0.75% this year and 1.25% in 2015.

Both Ton Heerts of trade union FNV and Maurice Limmen of trade union federation CNV told Nos television the more favourable economic outlook should lead to more investment in creating jobs.

‘The speed of growth needs to be increased by winning back people’s trust and this can be done by investing in job creation,’ Heerts told the Nos.

Limmen agreed. ‘If there’s space financially, it should be used to get people back to work,’ he said.

For employers’ organisation VNO-NCW chairman Bernhard Wientjes the key is tax cuts. ‘If the Netherlands wants more growth, taxes must be cut. This will support further recovery and give an impulse to consumption which is good for the economy, the construction industry and the retail trade,’ he told the Nos.