Selected economy indicators - August, September 2011

Selected economy indicators

In August, the industrial production increased inter-annually, the y-o-y construction production decelerated its decline. The volume of exports grew slightly faster than imports; the surplus of the trade balance went up also a little bit. August 2011 was compared to the same month of the previous year one working day more.
In September compared with August, the m-o-m consumer prices level decreased, the inter-annual gain of prices slightly accelerated. Number of registered unemployed people went down in September, the registered unemployment rate decreased inter-monthly and inter-annually.

AUGUST 2011

INDUSTRY

The y-o-y volume of industrial production in August was higher by 5.9% really, after working day adjustment by 3.5%. The largest contribution to the overall increase, 1.2 percentage points, belongs to manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (growth by 7.2%), 1.0 p.p. brought manufacture of machinery and equipment (growth by 12.7%) and 0.6 p.p. manufacture of fabricated metal products (growth of production by 6.5%). A downward effect on the growth (-0.3 p.p.) came from the drop in computer, electronic and optical products by 8.3%. The seasonally adjusted volume of industrial production decreased inter-monthly by 0.6%.

Sales from industrial activity at current prices increased y-o-y by 6.0%. Direct export sales grew by 16.0%, domestic sales including indirect export sales of non-industrial enterprises fell by 2.1%. The share of direct export sales in total sales of industrial enterprises made up 49.0%, which was by 4.2 p.p. more than a year ago.

The value of new orders in selected industrial CZ-NACE activities went down by 3.4% y-o-y. Non-domestic new orders increased by 3.3%, whereas domestic new orders fell by 14.1%.

The average registered number of employees ¹ in enterprises with 50+ employees increased by 3.0% inter-annually. Their average monthly nominal wage reached CZK 25 036 and rose by 4.8% nominally and by 3.0% really.

In January to August, compared to the same period of 2010, industrial production increased by 9.3%. Sales from industrial activity at current prices rose by 9.5%, direct export sales by 18.0% and domestic sales by 2.3%. The value of new orders grew up by 7.2%. Number of employees in enterprises with 50+ employees went up by 3.6%. The average monthly wage increased by 3.9% nominally, by 2.1% in real terms.

CONSTRUCTION

In August, the y-o-y volume of construction production went down by 7.7% in real terms. The buildings decreased by 1.8%, the civil engineering works by 18.5%. The construction production (after seasonal adjustment) did not change inter-monthly.

The construction of 2 320 dwellings started, which was by 17.0% less than a year ago. The number of completed dwellings grew by 24.3% to 2 736 dwellings.

The average registered number of employees ¹ in construction enterprises with 50+ employees went down by 6.9% y-o-y. Their average monthly nominal wage reached CZK 29 401 and went up by 9.3% and by 7.5% really.

In January to August, in year on year comparison, the construction production was lower by 3.6% in real terms. The buildings decreased by 0.2% and the civil engineering works by more than one tenth (by 10.4%). The number of started as well as completed dwellings went down by 3.1% and 19.9% respectively. In enterprises with 50+ employees, number of employees decreased by 4.5%. The average monthly wage rose by 1.5% nominally but fell by 0.3% in real terms.

EXTERNAL TRADE ²

In August, the y-o-y volume of exports increased by 10.8%, the volume of imports by 10.3%. The trade balance showed a surplus of CZK 1.7 bn which was inter-annually higher by CZK 1.0 bn. The trade balance with EU member states was active: it reached CZK 47.1 bn, which was about CZK 7.2 bn more than the previous year. The trade balance with non-EU countries was passive (CZK 45.4 bn), which represented a CZK 6.2 bn worsening comparing to August 2010. August trade balance has been the lowest this year and its value has been positively influenced especially thanks to the growth of surplus in trade with machinery and transport equipment.

After seasonal adjustment, m-o-m volume of exports and imports decreased by 1.3% and 0.2% respectively.

From January to August, exports grew by 15.4% and imports by 14.5%. The trade balance surplus of CZK 114.1 bn was higher by CZK 27.0 bn in y-o-y comparison.


SEPTEMBER 2011

CONSUMER PRICES

In September, compared with August, total consumer prices level decreased by 0.2%. In total, prices of goods went up by 0.2%, whereas prices of services went down by 0.7%. The highest drop in prices noted Recreation and culture (by 3.9%) and Furnishings, households equipment and maintenance (by 0.2%). On the contrary, the main component with the biggest price growth was Clothing and footwear (by 2.0%) and Education (by 1.8%). In terms of y-o-y comparison, consumer prices rose by 1.8% (by 1.7% in August). The price level increase was influenced mainly by growth of prices in Food and non-alcoholic beverages (by 0.7 p.p., price increase by 3.9%) and by Housing, water, energy and fuel (by 0.7 p.p., price increase by 2.7%).

Quarterly, in y-o-y comparison, the average consumer prices level increased by 1.7% in the 1Q, and 1.8% in both 2Q and 3Q. The administrative prices growth reached 4.3% in 1Q, 4.0% in 2Q and 4.5% in 3Q. The average level of market prices went up by 1.3% in both 1Q and 2Q, by 1.2% in 3Q.

Inflation rate in September, expressed as the increase of the average consumer price index for last 12 months related to the average CPI for the previous 12 months, decreased to 1.8%. Living costs (imputed rentals not involved) in households of pensioners rose by 2.9%.

The y-o-y growth of harmonized index of consumer prices in the Czech Republic (provisional data) stayed at 2.1% in September (the Eurostat flash estimate for Euroarea HICP was 3.0%).

UNEMPLOYMENT

The registered unemployment rate (according to the Ministry of Social Affairs) decreased inter-monthly by 0.2 p.p in September and was 8.0% at the end of month. The unemployment rate of men did not change and remained at 6.8%, the unemployment rate of women went down by 0.3 p.p. to 9.7%. Compared to the end of September 2010, the registered unemployment rate dropped by 0.5 p.p.

At the end of September, the number of unemployed people registered by labour offices fell to 475.1 thousand persons. It went down by 6.4 thousand compared to the previous month and by 25.4 thousand compared to September 2010. The number of unemployed new graduated students and youths grew in m-o-m comparison and their share in total number of unemployed increased by 1.6 p.p. to 7.4% (it was 7.9% at the end of September 2010). The number of free job opportunities decreased slightly in m-o-m comparison, but fell up reaching 39.8 thousand in y-o-y comparison. The number of applicants per one job opportunity at the end of month was 11.9 persons. This represented a slight inter-monthly worsening and greater inter-annual improvement, however with persistent regional disparities.

In 1Q – 3Q 2011, the average registered unemployment rate amounted to 8.7%; in Q1 it was 9.6%, in Q2 8.5% and in 3Q 8.1%.


This press release was not edited for language.

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¹ The indicator registered number of employees does not include: persons working under various contracts for work, working owners of enterprises and cooperating household members, who do not have contracts of employment. Data on the registered number of employees in industry (construction) also exclude agency workers, who have contracts of employment, however, not within the industry (construction).
² In ‘border statistics’ concept.

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Published: 13.09.2011
The data are valid as of the release date of the publication.