AMSTERDAM, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Conditions for the Dutch manufacturing sector worsened further in December, with the seasonally-adjusted NEVI Purchasing Managers' Index hitting a record low, PMI data showed on Friday.
The overall PMI fell to 38.4 from 38.7 in November, the lowest since data collection began in March 2000. The PMI has now been below 50 -- the mark that separates growth from contraction -- for six consecutive months.
Production also shrank at a record pace, with the output sub index slipping to 42.7 last month from 43.6 in November.
The Dutch economy, which accounts for about six percent of euro zone gross domestic product (GDP), is expected to fall into its first full-year recession in 27 years in 2009.
Markit Economics, which compiles the PMI data, said Dutch companies had sought to reduce capacity, shedding workers at an unprecedented rate in December.
Dutch unemployment has not budged according to the latest data that includes November, remaining at 3.8 percent and among the lowest in the euro zone, but the government's macro-economic think tank CPB expects it to rise in 2009 and 2010.
(Reporting by Niclas Mika; editing by David Stamp)