The sectors hotels and restaurants (3.6 percent), trade (3.0 percent) and construction (2.5 percent) contributed considerably to the rapid job growth in 2007. With 2.2 percent extra jobs, the care sector remains a major job supplier. In the public sector and manufacturing industry, employment was the same as in 2006.
Quarterly job growth exceeds 30 thousand:
Employment is clearly subject to seasonal variation. After correction for seasonal effects, the number of paid jobs in the fourth quarter of 2007 was 34 thousand up on the third quarter. In the course of 2007, job growth slowed down distinctly. In the first quarter of 2007, the number of jobs increased by 56 thousand, in het second quarter by 45 thousand and in the third quarter by 37 thousand.