The number of unfilled vacancies per 1,000 jobs can be used as an indication of the tension on the labour market. At the end of March this ratio was 37 in the private sector. One year earlier it was 28, rising to 32 by the end of December last year. This increase is a sign of increasing tension on the labour market. It is becoming more difficult to find employees in nearly all sectors.
Business services find it most difficult to recruit, especially computer service and IT companies.
This is a smaller growth than in previous quarters, but still relatively high. The strong increase in the first quarter of 2000 has held the growth rate for the first half year at the same level as the annual growth for 1999. The smaller volume increase is mainly caused by the very moderate growth in spending on durable goods. Consumers spent considerably less on new cars in particular than in the second quarter of 1999, although in that quarter the level of spending on cars was very high. This is a relatively strong increase for this category.