Contacts report higher output growth in all sectors over the past three months. The rise has been most pronounced in manufacturing and household services.

Contacts expect the rise in overall activity to continue at the same pace over the next six months. However, there is some variation across sectors. Retail trade contacts envisage a decline in turnover, while services contacts expect the strongest growth.

Employment has risen over the past three-month period, and Regional Network enterprises expect employment to continue to rise ahead. At the same time, more contacts than for some time report difficulties in recruiting qualified labour. The supply of raw materials is also cited as a key capacity constraint. Higher raw materials prices are driving an accelerating rise in prices in all sectors. The estimate for annual wage growth in 2021 has been revised up to 2.9 percent, up from 2.7 percent in May.