Increase in consumer goods, decrease in capital goods

Seasonally adjusted industrial turnover for the third quarter of 2014 decreased by 2.3 per cent to 94.5 points when compared to the second quarter of 2014. While consumer goods increased by 1.3 per cent, capital goods and intermediate goods registered a decline of 5.7 and 3.8 per cent respectively. Moreover, there was no change in the level of seasonally adjusted industrial turnover for energy.

According to the National Statistics Office, seasonally adjusted employment during the quarter under review declined by 0.5 per cent from 98.0 to 97.5 points.

Employment increases in durable consumer goods (+4.2 per cent) and capital goods (+0.9 per cent) were mitigated by a decrease of 0.8 per cent in employment both in intermediate goods and non-durable consumer goods. Seasonally adjusted employment in energy remained stable.

During this period, hours worked adjusted for seasonal effects decreased by 1.5 per cent, whereas seasonally adjusted wages and salaries increased by 0.5 per cent.

When compared to the third quarter of 2013, working day adjusted turnover decreased by 6.4 per cent. This resulted from a decrease in turnover in intermediate goods (-13.6 per cent), non-durable consumer goods (-8.7 per cent) and energy (-2.9 per cent), while turnover in durable consumer goods and capital goods rose by 19.3 per cent and 12.2 per cent respectively.

Year-on-year data for employment fell by 0.2 per cent due to declines in intermediate goods, energy and non-durable consumer goods. However, this was partially mitigated by an increase in employment in durable consumer goods and capital goods by 4.1 and 1.0 per cent respectively.

Additionally, hours worked adjusted for working day decreased by 0.9 per cent, while wages and salaries increased by 0.2 per cent.