Economic growth slows, but wages and permanent jobs are up

Photo: Depositphotos.com
Photo: Depositphotos.com

The Dutch economy expanded by 1.7% last year, its lowest level since 2014, the national statistics office CBS said on Thursday in its latest economic update. The Dutch economy grew 2.6% in 2018.

Consumer spending also continued to rise in 2018, going up 1.4%, but this too is down on the 2% growth recorded in the two preceding years. The number of jobs was up 1.7% and the number of vacancies reached 291,000 by the end of the year. The unemployment rate remains 3.3%.

Wages are beginning to rise as the shortage of skilled workers begins to bite, the CBS said. Wages rose an average of 2.6% last year but collective pay deals agreed in the first month of 2020 included an average pay rise of 3.2%.

The number of people on permanent job contracts is also going up, the CBS said, rising from 5.4 million to 5.6 million last year. There was also a corresponding drop in the number of people with flexible contracts.

Inflation has also gone down from 2.7% to 1.8% because the impact of last year’s energy bill hikes and VAT increases has now been absorbed.

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