The new Dutch government will have to address a number of key challenges to boost the economy in the long term, according to the latest OECD report on the Netherlands.

The Paris-based organisation expects Dutch GDP will go up by 1.2% this year and 2% in 2011 – in line with the latest central bank estimates.
However, the national debt is set to rise to 67.2% of GDP in 2010 and 71.5% in 2011.
The OECD forecasts the jobless total will fall to 4.6% this year and rise again slightly in 2011. Although this is lower than other European countries the shortage of highly-skilled workers in the Netherlands and costly redundancy packages could hit employment rates in the long term, the OECD said.
Therefore the Netherlands needs to make it easier to sack people and take other steps to boost employment. ‘The most pressing challenge for the near future is to prevent the cyclical increase in unemployment from becoming structural,’ the OECD says.
The organisation also says the pension system also needs to be reformed and pension fund rules amended to make them less vulnerable to short term influences.
The next government should also consider introducing road pricing to ease congestion on the highways and relax strict rent controls in the public housing sector to help labour mobility.