Figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the volume of retail sales grew by 1% in the year to October. The volume of sales fell by 1% in October compared with September. This followed two months of increases.
The value of sales, which takes into account the price of goods, showed annual growth of 2.9% in October despite a monthly fall of 1.3%.
The three-month figure for August-October shows a 1.2% volume increase when compared with the previous three months ending in July.
A detailed breakdown of the July-September figures shows that sales of electrical goods jumped by 4.3% compared with the previous three months.
Separate CSO figures show that 938 days were lost to industrial disputes in the third quarter of 2003, compared with 4,613 in the same period last year. For the first nine months of the year, days lost are running at almost double the same period last year, at 33,215.
