News item | 08-09-2025 | 12:45
The cabinet today presents the 1st productivity agenda. It contains plans to make the Netherlands more productive, so that we can continue to pay for care, education and other facilities in the future. More productivity means that entrepreneurs and employees can do the same work faster or easier, or can achieve more with the same bet. This helps, for example, the baker who, due to digitization, loses less time on administration and thus pays more attention to his customers. Or the nurse who has to do less paperwork thanks to smart technology and gets more time for the patient.
The Dutch economy is now part of the most productive in the world, but growth is stagnating. In the past 10 years, productivity has only risen by 0.4% per year, while this used to be 1.5%. That has major consequences for our prosperity. If productivity had continued to grow at a fast pace, that would have earned us € 100 billion extra. That is 5 times as much as how much we spend on Defense in the Netherlands per year, and almost 2 times as much as we spend on education. Moreover, our population is aging. So we cannot count on many more extra hours worked. Without measures, waiting times in healthcare, the quality of education and our safety are increasingly under pressure.
Minister Karremans of Economic Affairs presented the productivity agenda today at a working visit in Nieuwegein: “We have to earn more money with fewer people, so our productivity has to go up. Our hospitals and schools are built thanks to the productivity of previous generations. If we want to keep good care and education, we must now ensure that companies and institutions can work and innovate smarter. “
Take
The agenda contains measures in 5 areas that must ensure more productivity:
- Digitization and innovation -By helping SMEs work digitally and build a Dutch AI factory, companies can perform processes faster, cheaper and smarter. This saves time and costs.
- Competition and fewer rules – simpler and better coordinated rules, such as standardized labels in Europe, reduce administrative burdens. In this way, companies can focus more on their core activities.
- Financing companies – Access to credit makes it easier for SMEs to invest in innovation and growth. Employee participation and better support for researchers encourage entrepreneurship and innovation, so that new ideas find their way to the market faster.
- Develop education and lifelong – Stronger basic skills and a personal learning and development budget ensure that people are better prepared for changes in their work. Well -trained employees can work more efficiently and apply new technology faster.
- Labor market – Less uncertainty about wages in the event of illness reduces risks for entrepreneurs. This makes it more attractive to hire people and contributes to a dynamic and productive labor market.
New productivity council
To monitor progress, the government sets up a productivity council. Every year, this council provides concrete advice to make the Netherlands more productive and therefore more prosperous.
With these measures, the government wants to ensure that the Dutch economy remains strong and we can continue to pay our facilities in the future.