What is driving Dutch economic growth?
A. You have a lot of strong sectors that are typical of the New Economy: telecom deregulation is ahead of much of the rest of Europe. Internet penetration also is much higher than in the rest of Europe. It’s higher in the U.S., and Finland, and the rest of Scandinavia. But after that comes The Netherlands. In general, the Dutch economy is very service-oriented. We are very strong globally in insurance, media, and other services. About 80% of economic activity is in service industries, similar to the level in the U.S. In Germany, the level is more like 65%. Q. What about unemployment, which in most of the Euro zone is over 10%? What is the level in The Netherlands? A. In the Netherlands, unemployment has fallen to 4.5%, and could fall below 4%. It’s now entering a crisis situation. There are tremendous labor shortages developing. We may be at the point where unemployment can’t go much lower. Q. Are real incomes going up in the Netherlands? A. Yes, certainly. The evidence in terms of rea
