Industrial indicators up

Industrial turnover, total gross wages, salaries and the number of working hours in the sector were all higher last July than in the same month last year, the National Statistics Office said.

Industrial turnover increased by 12.4 per cent, reflecting a higher turnover from the production of intermediate goods and consumer durable goods. This contrasted with a decrease in the energy sector. Employment in industry fell by 2.6 per cent in July over the same month last year. This tendency was common to all main industrial groupings except for the capital goods and consumer durables groups.

Gross wages and salaries in industry increased by 6.8 per cent from July 2005 to last July, reflecting increases in all the groupings.

Hours worked increased by 22 per cent, driven mainly by developments in the energy and capital goods groups