Labour Shortages and Supply Bottlenecks Hamper Business Activity
Results of the WIFO-Konjunkturtest Quarterly Survey of October 2021
The business cycle assessments of Austrian companies show a stable development of the economy across almost all sectors in October, except in the retail trade sector. Nevertheless, the WIFO-Konjunkturampel (economic traffic light) shows red and thus signals that the peak of the economic upturn has probably been reached. Capacity utilisation fell slightly in manufacturing but remained above average in all sectors. As in the previous quarter, the "shortage of labour force" was cited as the most important obstacle to business activity. In addition, shortages of materials and inputs caused by supply bottlenecks hampered business activity in manufacturing, construction and retailing.