The Czech Statistics Office (CSU) produced worrying numbers for the construction industry. Output fell 1.7 percent in October compared to October 2018, disappointing those who saw hope in September’s y-o-y gain of 2.4 percent. Building construction led the numbers down, though engineering saw some gains. The economist Lukas Kovanda told Czech Television said the results could be seen as a return to a more reasonable pace of work following a boom. “In part it’s because of the relatively high comparison base from last year,” he said. “Last year in October, the boom was still growing in this sector. This meant that construction relatively quickly hit its limits. That’s what’s being worked out here.” He added that output in the construction sector increase 1.7 percent over the first ten months of the year and that he expects the figure to rise to 3.5 percent for all of 2019. In 2018, that figure was 9.2 percent. “Construction hasn’t been able to get the appropriate labor force that’s been siphoned off in a big way by industry. Now the number of workers in the sector is gradually rising.”
