In 2017, the turnover of business services in the Netherlands rose by more than 6 percent. This is the fourth consecutive year of rising turnover. Since 2008, annual turnover only fell in 2009, 2010 and 2013. The largest increase in the last decade was 8 percent in 2015.

In recent years, most business service providers have expressed positive expectations with regard to staffing levels and the economic climate. Expectations of turnover and sales prices show a more varied picture, but have nevertheless increased every year since 2015. In the first quarter of 2018, business service providers were especially positive about sales prices and rates for the next three months.

In the period 2015–2017, turnover increased in virtually all branches of business services. The one exception was security and investigative services, which reported a slight downturn in turnover for 2016. The following year, however, their turnover recovered. Cleaning companies, gardeners, and architectural and engineering firms also achieved greater turnover in 2017 than in the two preceding years. Turnover in the travel sector saw the most impressive gains, especially in 2015 and 2016.

The turnover of IT service providers rose by 5.7 percent in 2017 compared to the previous year. This level of growth was higher than the average for 2016, but down on 2014 and 2015. The decline in turnover was most significant in 2012 (4.2 percent). IT services cover computer programming and consulting services, as well as information services such as web hosting, delivery of software applications and IT infrastructure.

The turnover of temporary employment agencies has been on the rise for several years, corresponding with the increase in the number of temporary staffing hours. The number of temporary staffing hours in long-term contracts, such as secondment and payrolling (phases B and C), has increased almost continuously for six years. These are longer contracts in which temporary employees are taken on by the temporary employment agency for a fixed or an indefinite period. The number of hours in short-term contracts (phase A) only began to increase continuously from 2015 onwards. These are so-called basic contracts without a temporary employment clause, which last a maximum of 78 weeks.