The Dutch unemployment rate will peak at 9% next year, according to economists from ABN Amro bank in a new report on the Dutch economy.

At the moment, some 643,000 people (8.1% of the working population) are without a job but that will rise to over 700,000 by next year, the bank said.

Although industrial production may begin to rise towards the end of this year, it will still be some time before companies start taking on new staff.

The government’s macro-economic think-tank CPB said in its most recent forecasts that it did not expect unemployment to rise in 2014.