Netherlands' central bank De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) published calculations indicating that labour productivity growth in the Dutch “relevant market sector” has remained broadly stable for several years, in contrast to the marked slowdown in labour productivity growth for the overall economy. Average labour productivity growth in the relevant market sector was 1.1% per year between 2013 and 2023, compared with 0.4% for the economy as a whole. The relevant market sector measure excludes areas where productivity is hard to measure or distorted, notably the public sector and mining and quarrying, where the Groningen gas field closures depress measured output and productivity. On this basis, Dutch market-sector productivity growth sits slightly above the euro area (1.0%) but below the US relevant market sector (1.7%), with the gap largely attributed to technology sectors: between 2013 and 2019, productivity growth in US technology sectors averaged 5.6% per year, versus 1.6% in the euro area and 0.6% in the Netherlands. DNB argues that, with an ageing workforce, future Dutch growth will rely increasingly on productivity gains, pointing to levers such as technological investment and automation, workforce skills, process optimisation and management quality, alongside government actions including investment in education and science and reducing regulatory burdens. It also highlights EU-level efforts to remove single-market barriers, citing an International Monetary Fund estimate that eliminating such barriers could lift labour productivity by around 7%.
De Nederlandsche Bank 2025-05-02
Netherlands' De Nederlandsche Bank finds market-sector labour productivity growth held steady at 1.1% a year in 2013–2023
De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) reported that labour productivity growth in the Dutch relevant market sector has remained stable at 1.1% annually from 2013 to 2023, outperforming the overall economy's 0.4%. The DNB emphasizes the importance of productivity gains for future growth due to an ageing workforce, suggesting technological investment, workforce skills, and regulatory improvements as key levers. Removing EU single-market barriers could boost productivity by approximately 7%, according to the International Monetary Fund.