Contacts as a whole report slightly weaker output growth than in January. Overall, contacts expect a pick-up in growth in the period ahead, and expectations have been revised up slightly since January. Contacts cite increasing activity in the oil industry and prospects for an increase in housing starts. Contacts also point to continued growth in public sector demand.

The share of enterprises reporting capacity constraints has increased. The share of contacts reporting labour shortages has risen slightly. Contacts report solid growth in employment over the past three months, and they expect employment growth to remain high in the period ahead. Contacts as a whole estimate annual wage growth of 2.8 percent for 2018.

Information in this survey was provided by 322 Regional Network contacts. The interviews were primarily conducted in May.