Selected economy indicators - May, June 2011

Selected economic indicators

In May, the industrial production accelerated the year on year growth, the y-o-y construction production decreased again. The volume of exports grew faster than imports; the surplus of the trade balance went up. May 2011 was compared to the same month of the previous year one working day more.

In June compared with May, the m-o-m consumer prices level decreased, the inter-annual gain of prices decelerated. Number of registered unemployed people went down, the registered unemployment rate decreased both inter-monthly and inter-annually.

The y-o-y volume of industrial production in May was higher by 15.2% really, after working days adjustment the production rose by 12.6%. The largest contribution to the overall increase, 5.3 percentage points, belongs mainly to manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (the growth by 29.9%), 1.8 p.p. brought manufacture of machinery and equipment (the growth by 22.7%) and 1.5 p.p. manufacture of electrical equipment (growth by more than a quarter). A downward effect on the growth (-0.4 p.p.) came from the drop in manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (by 9.5%). The seasonally adjusted volume of industrial production increased inter-monthly by 2.7%.

Sales from industrial activity at current prices increased y-o-y by 13.9 %, direct export sales by 21.8 % and domestic sales including indirect export sales of non-industrial enterprises grew by 6.9%. The share of direct export sales in total sales of industrial enterprises made up 50.2%, which was by 3.2 p.p. more than a year ago.

The average registered number of employees¹ in enterprises with 50+ employees increased by 3.7% inter-annually. Their average monthly nominal wage reached CZK 26 570 and rose by 6.0% nominally and by 3.9% really.

The value of new orders in selected industrial CZ-NACE activities raised by 5.2% y-o-y. Non-domestic new orders increased by 10.8%, whereas domestic new orders fell by 3.9%.

In January to May, compared to the same period of 2010, industrial production increased by 11.5%. Sales from industrial activity at current prices rose by 11.9% and direct export sales by 19.7%. Number of employees in enterprises with 50+ employees went up by 3.9%. The average monthly wage increased by 4.2% nominally, in real terms by 2.4%.


CONSTRUCTION

In May, the y-o-y volume of construction production went down by 4.9% in real terms, after working days adjusting by 6.0%. The buildings decreased by 2.5%, the civil engineering works by 9.5%. The construction production (after seasonal adjustment) rose by 1.2% m-o-m.

The construction of 2 985 dwellings started, which was by 6.4% more than a year ago. The number of completed dwellings reduced by 18.8% to 2 023 dwellings.

The average registered number of employees¹ in construction enterprises with 50+ employees went down by 4.1% y-o-y. Their average monthly nominal wage reached CZK 28 818 and went up by 6.7% nominally and by 4.6% really.

In January to May, in year on year comparison, the construction production was higher by 0.3% in real terms. In enterprises with 50+ employees, number of employees decreased by 3.2%. The average monthly wage went up nominally by 1.3%, in real terms went down by 0.5%. The number of started dwellings grew by 1.0%, while the number of completed dwellings fell by 29.9%.


EXTERNAL TRADE²


In May, the y-o-y volume of exports increased by 18.2%, the volume of imports by 17.5%. The trade balance showed a surplus of CZK 14.4 bn which was inter-annually higher by CZK 3.2 bn. The trade balance with EU member states was active: it reached CZK 56.1 bn, which was about CZK 5.5 bn more than the previous year. The trade balance with non-EU countries was passive (CZK 41.7 bn), whereas in May 2010, the debit was by CZK 2.3 bn more favourable. The trade balance was positively affected mainly by growth of surplus in trade with machinery and transport equipment.

After seasonal adjustment, m-o-m volume of exports and imports decreased by 0.7% and 1.0% respectively.

From January to May, exports grew by 19.4% and imports by 20.1%. The trade balance surplus of CZK 80.5 bn was higher by 7.9 bn CZK in y-o-y comparison.



JUNE 2011

CONSUMER PRICES

In June, compared with May, total consumer prices level decreased by 0.2%. In total, prices of goods went down by 0.4%, whereas prices of services went up by 0.2%. The biggest price decrease (both by 1.5%) noted Food and non-alcoholic beverages and Clothing and footwear. On the contrary, the main component with the highest growth rate was Housing, water, energy and fuel (by 0.8%). In terms of the y-o-y comparison, consumer prices rose by 1.8% (by 2.0% in May). The price level increase was influenced mainly by Food and non-alcoholic beverages (by 0.8 p.p., price increase by 4.8%) and by Housing, water, energy and fuel (by 0.7 p.p., price increase by 3.0%). Price drop in Recreation and Culture helped most (by 0.2 p.p) to the total price level decrease.

In H1, the y-o-y consumer prices increased by 1.8%; in Q1 by 1.7% and in Q2 by 1.8%.

Inflation rate in June, expressed as the increase of the average consumer price index for last 12 months related to the average CPI for the previous 12 months, grew to 1.9%. Living costs (imputed rentals not involved) in households of pensioners went up by 3.0%.

The y-o-y growth of harmonized index of consumer prices in the Czech Republic (provisional data) decelerated to 1.9% in June (the Eurostat flash estimate for Euroarea HICP stayed at 2.7%).


UNEMPLOYMENT

The registered unemployment rate (according to the Ministry of Social Affairs) decreased m-o-m by 0.1 percentage point in June and was 8.1% at the end of month. The unemployment rate of men went down by 0.2 p.p. to 7.0%, the unemployment rate of women stayed at 9.5%. In comparison with the end of June 2010, the registered unemployment rate decreased by 0.4 p.p.

At the end of June, the number of unemployed people registered by labour offices fell to 478.8 thousand persons. It went down by 11.2 thousand compared to May 2011 a by 21.7 thousand compared to June 2010. The number of unemployed new graduated students and youths went down in m-o-m comparison and their share in total number of unemployed went also down by 0.7 p.p. to 4.9% (it was 4.8% at the end of June 2010). The number of free job opportunities raised in both m-o-m and y-o-y comparisons and amounted to 38.4 thousand. The number of applicants per one job opportunity was 12.5 persons, which represented inter-monthly as well as inter-annual improvement but with significant regional differences.

In H1 2011 the average registered unemployment rate amounted to 9.0%; in Q1 it was 9.6% and in Q2 8.5%.



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

Published: 13.06.2011
The data are valid as of the release date of the publication.