Labor productivity in the Netherlands has decreased compared to the period before the corona pandemic. It reports that Central Bureau of Statistics Tuesday. Labor productivity, measured as gross domestic product (GDP) per hour worked, was 1.4 percent lower in the second quarter of 2022 than in the same quarter in 2019. Across the eurozone, labor productivity was just 0.9 in the same period. percent increased.
Both the GDP of the Netherlands and the number of hours worked have increased during the corona period. But because the number of hours worked grew more strongly, there is a decline in labor productivity. The increase in the number of hours worked can partly be explained by the population growth in the Netherlands. The number of inhabitants has increased by 1.8 percent in the past three years. In addition, the Dutch have also started working more hours.
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The fall in labor productivity in the Netherlands goes against the trend of the entire eurozone, where productivity actually increased. The number of hours worked here grew less rapidly than GDP, which means that productivity is 0.9 percent higher than three years previously. Growth was even stronger in Belgium and Germany, where productivity was respectively 2.3 and 1.6 percent higher than in the second quarter of 2019. In these countries the population is also growing less rapidly than in the Netherlands.
As a measure of work efficiency, labor productivity is an important economic indicator. Growing productivity increases a country’s prosperity.
Labor productivity in agriculture rises sharply
Labor productivity varies greatly by industry. Divided into different sectors, Statistics Netherlands no longer calculates with GDP, but looks at the gross added value in the basic prices. For example, in the large sector of government, education and care, the number of hours worked has increased by 12.9 percent. Value added also grew, but lagged behind with an increase of 6.7 percent, causing labor productivity to fall.
Financial services are also experiencing a significant decline. Here, 11.3 percent more hours were worked, while the added value fell by almost 4 percent. Together with industry, information and communication and business services, agriculture is one of the few sectors where productivity actually increased sharply. The number of hours worked here fell by almost 12 percent, while the added value showed a small growth. This leads to an increase in productivity of 14.6 percent.