Selected economy indicators - September, October 2011

Selected economy indicators

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

SEPTEMBER 2011

INDUSTRY

The y-o-y volume of industrial production in September was higher by 2.5% really. The largest contribution to the overall increase, 4.0 percentage points, belongs to manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (growth by 22.1%), 0.5 p.p. brought manufacture of rubber and plastic products (growth by 8.1%) and 0.4 p.p. manufacture of other transport equipment (growth of production by 33.4%). A downward effect on the growth (-0.7 p.p.) came from the drop in computer, electronic and optical products by 17.8%. 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 0.9%. Direct export sales grew by 13.4%, domestic sales including indirect export sales of non-industrial enterprises fell by 9.9%. The share of direct export sales in total sales of industrial enterprises made up 52.1%, which was by 5.7 p.p. more than a year ago.

The value of new orders in selected industrial CZ-NACE activities went up by 2.6% y-o-y. Non-domestic new orders increased by 12.7%, whereas domestic new orders fell by 12.4%.

The average registered number of employees ¹ in enterprises with 50+ employees increased by 2.5% inter-annually. Their average monthly nominal wage reached CZK 25 014 and rose by 3.9% nominally and by 2.1% really.

In January to September, compared to the same period of 2010, industrial production increased by 8.5%. In individual quarters the annual growth made up 12.3%, 9.0% and 4.2%. Sales from industrial activity at current prices rose in January to September by 8.4%, direct export sales by 17.4% and domestic sales by only 0.8%. The value of new orders grew up by 6.7% of which non-domestic new orders by 13.0%, whereas domestic new orders fell by 3.3%. Number of employees in enterprises with 50+ employees went up by 3.5%. The average monthly wage increased by 3.9% nominally, by 2.1% in real terms.


CONSTRUCTION

In September, the y-o-y volume of construction production went down by 6.7% in real terms. The buildings decreased by 7.3%, the civil engineering works by 5.5%. The construction production (after seasonal adjustment) went up by 0.3% inter-monthly.

The construction of 2 494 dwellings started, which was by 2.4% more than a year ago. The number of completed dwellings came down by 41.5% to 1 968 dwellings.

The average registered number of employees ¹ in construction enterprises with 50+ employees went down by 7.7% y-o-y. Their average monthly nominal wage reached CZK 28 485 and went up by 3.4% and by 1.6% really.

In January to September, in year on year comparison, the construction production was lower by 4.1% in real terms. After an increase by 7.0% in Q1 2011, the construction production went down y-o-y by 4.8% in Q2 and 8.4% in Q3, both inter-annually. In January to September 2011, the buildings decreased by 1.4% and the civil engineering works by almost one tenth (by 9.7%). The number of started as well as completed dwellings went down by 2.5% and 23.0%, respectively. In enterprises with 50+ employees, number of employees decreased by 4.9%. The average monthly wage rose by 1.8% nominally and did not change in real terms.


EXTERNAL TRADE ²

In September, the y-o-y volume of exports increased by 7.8%, the volume of imports by 3.5%. Due to the high comparison base (September 2010), it was the lowest growth rate of export and import this year. The trade balance showed a surplus of CZK 21.0 bn which was inter-annually higher by CZK 10.4 bn and represented so the second highest surplus since the establishment of the Czech Republic. The trade balance with EU member states was active: it reached CZK 55.9 bn, which was about CZK 3.9 bn more than the previous year. The trade balance with non-EU countries was passive (CZK 34.9 bn), which represented a CZK 6.5 bn improvement comparing to September 2010. September 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 decreased by 1.0% and 1.8%, respectively.

From January to September, exports grew by 14.4% and imports by 13.1%. The trade balance surplus of CZK 135.7 bn was higher by CZK 38.1 bn in y-o-y comparison. In individual quarters 2011, the surplus always exceeded the corresponding 2010 quarterly surplus. In 2011, the surplus decreased from Q1 to Q2 from 54.2 bn CZK to 44.3 bn CZK and to 37.2 bn CZK in Q3.


OCTOBER 2011

CONSUMER PRICES

In October, compared with September, total consumer prices level increased by 0.3%. In total, prices of goods went up by 0.4%, whereas prices of services went down by 0.1%. The highest growth in prices noted Clothing and footwear (by 1.9%) and Food and non-alcoholic beverages (by 0.9%). On the contrary, the main component with the biggest price drop was Recreation and culture; Alcoholic beverages, tobacco and Health (all by 0.1%). In terms of y-o-y comparison, consumer prices rose by 2.3% (by 1.8% in September), in households of pensioners by 3.2%. 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 5.4%), Housing, water, energy and fuel (by 0.7 p.p., price increase by 2.8%) and Transport (by 0.5 p.p., price increase by 4.1%).

Inflation rate in October, expressed as the increase of the average consumer price index for last 12 months related to the average CPI for the previous 12 months, rose to 1.9%. Living costs (imputed rentals not involved) in households of pensioners 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 2.6% in October (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 0.1 p.p in October and was 7.9% at the end of month. The unemployment rate of men went down by 0.1 p.p to 6.7%, the unemployment rate of women dropped by 0.2 p.p. to 9.5%. Compared to the end of October 2010, the registered unemployment rate went down by 0.5 p.p.

At the end of October, the number of unemployed people registered by labour offices fell to 470.6 thousand persons. It decreased by 4.5 thousand compared to the previous month and by 24.5 thousand compared to October 2010. The number of unemployed new graduated students and youths slightly grew in m-o-m comparison and their share in total number of unemployed increased by 0.2 p.p. to 7.6% (it was 7.7% at the end of October 2010). The number of free job opportunities fell down slightly in m-o-m comparison but fell up reaching 38.7 thousand inter-annually. The number of applicants per one job opportunity at the end of month was 12.2 persons. This represented an inter-monthly worsening and a greater 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: 12.10.2011
The data are valid as of the release date of the publication.