Industrial activity grew in April. The utilization of installed capacity increased by 0.6 percentage points compared to March and reached 77.8%, the highest index since August of last year, in the series free of seasonal influences. The information is from the Industrial Indicators, released by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) on Monday (3).

The hours worked in production increased by 1.1% and revenues increased by 3.3% in April compared to March, in the series without seasonal influences. In relation to the hours worked, there was a reversal of part of the 1.6% drop in the previous period. According to the survey, this indicator has been fluctuating since the end of 2017 and show a slight upward trend since the end of last year.

Regarding the billing, despite the increase, it was not possible to reverse the fall of 4.9% in March in comparison with February. According to the survey, the indicator continues to alternate positive and negative variations monthly since the end of the truck stoppage in May 2018. "As the falls have been surpassing the highs, the trend of the billing is a fall", highlights the CNI document.

Stable job 

Employment in industry grew by 0.1% in March compared to March, in the series free of seasonal influences. The CNI points out that employment has remained stable, with small fluctuations, since March 2017, when a long trajectory of a fall in the indicator ended.

The wage bill increased by 0.5% and the average worker income increased by 0.9% in April compared to March, in the series free of seasonal influences. While the wage mass index came from three consecutive declines, with cumulative retreat of 3.9%, the yield increases for the second consecutive month. Despite the high, the indicator comes from a trajectory of retraction throughout 2018.