Business confidence in the Netherlands slipped into negative territory at beginning of the fourth quarter, for the first time since early 2021, national statistics office CBS said on Tuesday.

In particular, the hospitality sector was negative about the economic climate but companies across all sectors see a downturn, the CBS said.

The business confidence index fell to -0.9, which is nine points down on the previous quarter.  The last downturn was due to the coronavirus crisis in the second quarter of 2020.

At the same time, the CBS said there has been a downturn in the number of job vacancies, after seven quarterly increases and the official unemployment rates rose from 3.3% to 3.7% in the third quarter.

There are now 121 vacancies for every 100 people in search of a job, down from 143 in the second three months of the year. Most open vacancies remain in the trade, business services and hospitality sectors.

The number of jobs rose by 59,000 and more workers were offered a permanent position rather than a flexible contract, the CBS said.

The CBS will publish its new economic growth forecasts later on Tuesday.