Weekly WIFO Economic Index
WWWI for GDP and its subcomponents
Based on the weekly GDP indicator (WWWI), domestic economic output in November (calendar weeks 45 to 48) was ½ percent below the previous year's level (October +¾ percent, revised)1.
The price-adjusted volume of non-cash transactions, an indicator of household consumption, showed an increase in demand for goods (retail sales) and a decrease in services in November compared with the same month of the previous year. Private consumption is likely to have stagnated in November at the level of a year earlier (October +1 percent).
The development of gross fixed capital formation is determined by economic output (industrial production) and sentiment in the manufacturing sector (according to the WIFO-Konjunkturtest, business cycle survey). In November, the year-on-year decline is estimated at 1½ percent (October +¾ percent).
Developments in industrial production and tourism, as well as in the main components of demand and the resulting effects on external trade, resulted in a negative contribution of net exports to GDP growth of 2¼ percentage points in November (October –1½ percentage points).
The number of trucks on Austria's motorways fell in November compared to a year earlier. In contrast, rail freight transport and the number of passenger flights handled at Vienna airport increased, and cargo flights continued to grow strongly. However, according to the WIFO-Konjunkturtest, the assessment of future business development by companies in the transport sector remained predominantly negative in November. On the basis of these indicators, value added in the transport sector (NACE 2008, section H) is estimated to have increased by 1¾ percent year-on-year in November (October +½ percent).
Employment in the goods-producing sector (NACE 2008, sections A to E) has continued to decline due to the recession, and the number of unemployed has been rising at double-digit rates year-on-year since November 2023. The WIFO-Konjunkturtest does not yet show any improvement in sentiment, neither in the assessment of the current situation nor in the expectations for the coming months. WIFO expects economic output in November to have been 3¾ percent lower than a year earlier (October –1 percent)2.
Sentiment indicators for construction remained in negative territory (unadjusted). The two-year increase in the number of persons registered as unemployed in the construction sector, which had been at double-digit rates between March and September, slowed to single-digit growth rates. Employment continued to fall markedly in November. Value added in construction (NACE 2008, section F) is estimated to have been 3½ percent lower in November than a year earlier (October +2 percent).
Based on cashless transactions in the restaurant and hotel sector, sentiment indicators from the WIFO-Konjunkturtest and online searches by foreign guests, value added in tourism (accommodation and food services, NACE 2008, section I) is estimated to have fallen by 3¾ percent in November compared to the same month of the previous year (October –3 percent). After very weak sales in June, retail trade recovered in the third quarter (+¾ percent; November +1¼ percent). In the wholesale and retail trade sector (NACE 2008, section G) value added is estimated to have increased by ½ percent year-on-year in November (October +2 percent).
As the current employment situation and the sentiment indicators from the WIFO-Konjunkturtest show, the unfavourable development in manufacturing is dampening the momentum in the remaining market services (NACE 2008, sections J to N). Year-on-year, value added fell by ½ percent in November (October +½ percent). In other personal services (NACE 2008, sections R to T) value added based on price-adjusted non-cash payments in the entertainment sector is estimated to have stagnated in November compared with a year earlier (October –½ percent).
1 The inclusion of newly published monthly data, which must be taken into account when estimating the WWWI, led to a revision of the WWWI. Notable downward revisions on the production side occurred in particular in public administration in the broad sense (NACE 2008, sections O to Q), the goods producing sector (sections A to E), and accommodation and food services (section I). Larger upward revisions were made for trade (section G) and the remaining market services (section H).
2 For the WWWI estimates, unadjusted weekly and monthly data are modelled on a year-on-year basis. In particular, in the goods-producing sector and closely related market services and construction, two working days more in October than in the previous year affect the calculations and temporarily lead to better results. In November there was one working day less than in the previous year.
Weekly Economic Activity, WWWI – Production, WWWI – Demand The WWWI is under constant development; it is regularly reviewed and will be expanded with new and additional weekly data series as they become available. The WWWI is not an official quarterly esti-mate, forecast or similar of WIFO.
The WIFO Weekly Economic Index (WWWI) is a measure of the real economic activity of the Austrian economy on a weekly and monthly frequency. It is based on weekly, monthly and quarterly time series to estimate weekly and monthly indicators for real GDP and 18 GDP sub-aggregates (use side 8, production side 10) of the Quarterly National Accounts.
With the release for June 2022, the econometric models for the historical decompositions and for nowcasting have been converted to seasonally unadjusted time series. In addition, year-on-year growth rates are now used to estimate the models.
The WWWI estimates are (currently) updated monthly and published on the WIFO website.
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