Import prices up by 8.9 percent 28. July 2008 by Thomas Jannot In June 2008 prices for imported goods were up by on average 8.9 percent as compared to June last year. According to the Federal Statistical Office, this corresponds to the biggest increase in the annual inflation rate since November 2000. At the same time it becomes evident that annual inflation is increasing at an accelerated …
Service sector remains job generator 25. July 2008 by Thomas Jannot In the year 2006 more than 6.4 million people were employed by about 715.300 businesses and organisations in the service sector which was 400.000 more people (+6.6%) than in the previous year 2005. And this trend seems to have continued also in the first quarter of 2008. This can be assumed if one looks at …
The world seen from a European perspective 24. July 2008 by Thomas Jannot In order to remain updated on global developments and in order not to be taken by surprise by crises such as high oil prices or the financial crisis in the USA – which would all have been foreseeable if one had closely followed the global economic development – it is now possible to obtain the …
3.5 percent less orders to industry in EU 24. July 2008 by Thomas Jannot In May there was a drop in incoming orders for industrial companies in the EU. In the Eurozone (EZ15) the index for incoming orders fell by 3.5% as compared to April. In the EU27 the number of incoming orders decreased by 4.7%. As compared to May 2007 the index fell by 4.4% in the Eurozone …
Employment rate in EU27 at 65.4 percent 23. July 2008 by Thomas Jannot The number of people having a job in the 27 member states of the EU amounted to about 218.5 million in 2007. Thus, the employment rate for people aged between 15 and 64 amounted to 65.4% which corresponds to an increase by 3.3 percent as compared to the year 2000 and 0.9% in comparison with …
Businesses want blogs, wikis and social networking 22. July 2008 by Thomas Jannot More than 50 percent of German companies use the means of communication provided by web 2.0, i.e. blogs wikis and social networking. Given that these technologies have turned out to be successful 60 percent of businesses want to extent their use even further. This is the finding of a study carried out jointly by BITKOM …
Online shoppers address themselves to dealers rather than to manufacturers 21. July 2008 by Thomas Jannot Manufacturers should better train dealers and provide them with more information on their products. This is the finding of a study called “Communication costs in sales and after-sales of e-shops” which revealed that in case of questions about a certain product 86% of German online customers address themselves directly to online shops.
Trade balance deficit of 4.6 billion Euros in Eurozone 21. July 2008 by Thomas Jannot According to estimates the Eurozone (EU15) generated a trade balance deficit of 4.6 billion Euros in May 2008. In May 2007 the trade balance of the EU15 had closed with a surplus of 1.4 billion Euros.
Turnover in German hotel and restaurant industry down by 0.6% 17. July 2008 by Thomas Jannot In May 2008 businesses in the German hotel and restaurant industry as a whole generated +1.9% more turnover in nominal terms and 0.6% less turnover in real figures as compared to May 2007. Over the one-month-period since April 2008, turnover increased by 1.2% and 1.0% respectively in May after adjustments for calendar and season.
Annual inflation in EU at 4.3 percent 16. July 2008 by Thomas Jannot The annual inflation rate in the EU27 was 4.3% in June 2008. Thus, inflation was still accelerating given that in May the rate was 4.0% and just 2.1% in June 2007. In the Eurozone annual inflation amounted to 4.0% in June this year as compared to 3.7% in May 2008 and 1.9% in June 2007.