The economic picture in the Netherlands was ‘less negative’ in September 2026 compared to the previous month, according to the latest Business Cycle Tracer published by Statistics Netherlands.
While the indicator shows a continuation of the improving trend since August 2025, nine of its 13 indicators remained below their long-term trend.
The CBS Business Cycle Tracer is a ‘tool used to monitor the state of the Dutch economy,’ Statistics Netherlands said. ‘It provides an overall macroeconomic picture of the past month or quarter based on all the figures published by Statistics Netherlands (CBS). The situation will still vary between households, enterprises or regions, however.’
Manufacturing boost
The Netherlands’ manufacturing sector provided a notable boost, the data showed. Calendar-adjusted manufacturing output was 9.0% higher in July 2026 than in July 2025, the largest annual increase in four years. Output increased 1.6% between June and July.
Exports also increased, with the total volume of goods exported, adjusted for working days, 2.1% higher in July 2026 than a year earlier, according to the most recent available data.
Household spending increased 1.2% year on year in July following adjustment for price changes and differences in shopping-day patterns.
Confidence improves
Elsewhere, consumer and producer confidence both improved during September. Consumer confidence remained below its long-term average, while producer confidence moved above its 20-year average.
The housing market also continued to record price growth, although the pace slowed. The average price of an existing owner-occupied home was 3.3% higher in August than a year earlier, compared with 3.9% annual growth in July. Prices fell 0.1% between July and August.
‘The year-on-year price increase of existing owner-occupied homes has been slowing down almost continuously since the end of 2024,’ Statistics Netherlands noted.
Labour market
In terms of the labour market, meanwhile, unemployment remained at 4.0% in August, with 408,000 people unemployed. The number of unemployed people had increased by an average of 3,000 per month over the previous three months.
There were 375,000 job vacancies at the end of the second quarter, down 3,000 from the previous quarter. Total hours worked by employees and self-employed people amounted to more than 3.7 billion in the second quarter.
‘The decline in the number of vacancies is continuing,’ said Statistics Netherlands.
The latest national-accounts estimate shows Dutch GDP increasing 0.6% in the second quarter compared with the first quarter. GDP was 1.3% higher year on year. Read more here.
