Selected economy indicators - October, November 2011

Selected economy indicators

In October, the industrial production increased inter-annually, the construction production, on the other hand, accelerated its decline. The volume of exports grew faster than imports and the y-o-y surplus of the trade balance went up.
In November compared with October, the m-o-m consumer prices level increased, the inter-annual gain of prices accelerated. Number of registered unemployed people went up in November, the registered unemployment rate increased inter-monthly and decreased inter-annually.

OCTOBER 2011

INDUSTRY

The y-o-y volume of industrial production in October was higher by 1.7% really. The largest contribution to the overall increase, 3.0 percentage points, belongs to manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (growth by 16.6%), 0.3 p.p. brought manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (growth by 3.0%) and 0.2 p.p. manufacture of electrical equipment (growth of production by 3.4%). A downward effect on the growth (-0.7 p.p.) came from the drop in computer, electronic and optical products by 17.2%. The seasonally adjusted volume of industrial production increased inter-monthly by 0.1%.

Sales from industrial activity at current prices increased y-o-y by 2.6%. Direct export sales grew by 13.1%, domestic sales including indirect export sales of non-industrial enterprises fell by 6.4%. The share of direct export sales in total sales of industrial enterprises made up 50.9%, which was by 4.7 p.p. more than a year ago.

The value of new orders in selected industrial CZ-NACE activities went up by 2.1% y-o-y. Non-domestic new orders increased by 8.4%, whereas domestic new orders fell by 7.8%.

The average registered number of employees ¹ in enterprises with 50+ employees increased by 1.9% inter-annually. Their average monthly nominal wage reached CZK 25 561 and rose by 3.1% nominally and by 0.8% really.

In January to October, compared to the same period of 2010, industrial production increased by 7.6%. Sales from industrial activity at current prices rose by 7.8%, direct export sales by 16.8%. Domestic sales did not change. The value of new orders grew up by 6.1% of which non-domestic new orders by 12.4%; domestic new orders fell by 3.7%. Number of employees in enterprises with 50+ employees went up by 3.3%. The average monthly wage increased by 3.8% nominally, by 2.0% in real terms.

CONSTRUCTION

In October, the y-o-y volume of construction production went down by 8.0% in real terms. The buildings decreased by 5.9%, the civil engineering works by 11.8%. The construction production (after seasonal adjustment) inter-monthly did not change.

The construction of 2 452 dwellings started, which was by 21.2% more than a year ago. The number of completed dwellings came down by 16.9% to 2 904 dwellings.

The average registered number of employees ¹ in construction enterprises with 50+ employees went down by 8.5% y-o-y. Their average monthly nominal wage reached CZK 29 851 and went up by 1.1%, whereas went down by 1.2% really.

In January to October, in year on year comparison, the construction production was lower by 5.2% in real terms. The buildings decreased by 2.6% and the civil engineering works by more than one tenth (by 10.3%). The number of started as well as completed dwellings went down by 0.5% and 22.2%, respectively. In enterprises with 50+ employees, number of employees decreased by 5.4%. The average monthly wage rose by 1.6% nominally and dropped by 0.2% in real terms.

EXTERNAL TRADE ²

In October, the y-o-y volume of exports increased by 9.6%, the volume of imports by 4.9%. The trade balance showed a surplus of CZK 25.5 bn which was inter-annually higher by CZK 11.8 bn and represented the highest surplus since the establishment of the Czech Republic. The trade balance with EU member states was active: it reached CZK 56.9 bn, which was about CZK 1.6 bn less than the previous year. The trade balance with non-EU countries was passive (CZK 31.4 bn), but it still represented a CZK 13.4 bn improvement comparing to October 2010. October trade balance 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 increased by 2.5% and 0.1%, respectively.

From January to October, exports grew by 14.0% and imports by 12.3%. The trade balance surplus of CZK 159.8 bn was higher by CZK 48.5 bn in y-o-y comparison.


NOVEMBER 2011

CONSUMER PRICES

In November, compared with October, total consumer prices level increased by 0.4%. In total, prices of goods went up by 0.8%, whereas prices of services went down by 0.2%. The highest growth in prices noted Food and non-alcoholic beverages (by 1.6%) and Housing, water, electricity, fuel (by 0.6%). On the contrary, the main component with the biggest price drop was Recreation and culture (by 0.5%) and Post and telecommunication (by 0.4%). In terms of y-o-y comparison, consumer prices rose by 2.5% (by 2.3% in October), in households of pensioners by 3.5%. The price level increase was influenced mainly by growth of prices in Food and non-alcoholic beverages (by 0.9 p.p., price increase by 5.3%), Housing, water, energy, fuel (by 0.9 p.p., price increase by 3.4%) and Transport (by 0.5 p.p., price increase by 4.4%).

Inflation rate in November, expressed as the increase of the average consumer price index for last 12 months related to the average CPI for the previous 12 months, stayed at 1.9%. Living costs (imputed rentals not involved) in households of pensioners did not also changed and stayed higher by 2.9%.

The y-o-y growth of harmonized index of consumer prices in the Czech Republic (provisional data) went up to 2.9% in November (the Eurostat flash estimate for Euroarea HICP remained unchanged for the 3 ^rd successive month at the level of 3.0%).

UNEMPLOYMENT

The registered unemployment rate (according to the Ministry of Social Affairs) increased inter-monthly by 0.1 p.p in November and was 8.0% at the end of month. The unemployment rate of men went up by 0.2 p.p to 6.9%, the unemployment rate of women stayed at 9.5%. Compared to the end of November 2010, the registered unemployment rate decreased by 0.6 p.p.

At the end of November, the number of unemployed people registered by labour offices went up to 476.4 thousand persons. It increased by 5.8 thousand compared to the previous month but decreased by 30.2 thousand compared to November 2010. The number of unemployed new graduated students and youths fell in m-o-m comparison and their share in total number of unemployed dropped by 0.5 p.p. to 7.1% (to the same level as at the end of November 2010). The number of free job opportunities fell down in m-o-m comparison but went up reaching 36.8 thousand inter-annually. The number of applicants per one job opportunity at the end of month was 12.9 persons. This represented an inter-monthly worsening and a significant inter-annual improvement, however with persistent regional disparities.


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: 11.11.2011
The data are valid as of the release date of the publication.