Sales in the service sector resume their rise after rising 1.5% in July

MADRID, 21 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The services sector increased its turnover by 1.5% last July compared to the same month in 2022, thus resuming the promotions after its first drop in sales in June after 27 months of year-on-year increases, as reported by this Thursday the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

The advance registered in July was a consequence of the rebound in billing in other services, since that of commerce recorded a year-on-year drop of 0.6% motivated by the decline in sales in wholesale trade (-6.7%). . On the other hand, the sale and repair of vehicles and motorcycles had a turnover of 17.7% more compared to July 2022, and retail trade, 7.9% more.

For their part, other services increased their sales by 5.4% year-on-year in July, driven by professional activities (12.3%), information and communications (11.7%), hospitality (6.3%) and administrative activities, which billed 5.8% more. On the other hand, transportation and storage sales fell 3.6%.

Within the hospitality industry, accommodation services increased their sales by 7.2%, while food and beverage services invoiced 5.6% more than in July 2022.

By activities, the largest year-on-year increases in sales were recorded by other professional, scientific and technical activities (28.5%) and the sale of vehicles and motorcycles, which increased by 19.7%.

On the other hand, the largest decreases corresponded to other specialized wholesale trade (-27.1%) and trade intermediaries (-12.7%).

BALEARIC ISLANDS LEAD THE INCREASE IN SALES

By autonomous communities, fourteen of them increased the billing of their services last July compared to the same month in 2022 and three reduced it: Madrid (-1.8%), Navarra (-1.5%) and Aragón (- 0.7%).

For its part, the greatest advances in sales occurred in the Balearic Islands (11.5%), Castilla-La Mancha (6.5%) and Asturias and La Rioja (6.4% in both cases), while the most Moderate ones were registered in the Valencian Community (0.7%) and Castilla y León (1.1%).

Corrected for calendar effects and seasonality, the billing of the services sector rose 1.2% in July compared to the same month in 2022, a rate two points higher than that of June.

In the first seven months of the year, service sales accumulated an average increase of 4.3% (4.4% in the seasonally adjusted series), highlighting the increases in travel agencies (35.8%) and transportation air (29.4%).

SALES INCREASE 0.8% IN THE MONTH

In monthly terms (July over June) and in data corrected for seasonality and calendar, the services sector registered a monthly increase in sales of 0.8% in the seventh month of the year, its largest monthly increase since last February.

Both commerce and other services contributed to this advance, which increased their turnover by 1.1% and 0.5%, respectively, despite the decline in the hospitality industry, whose sales in the month in a seasonally adjusted rate fell by 1.1 %.

Within the seasonally adjusted series, the activities that recorded the largest monthly increases in billing were other professional, scientific and technical activities (6.7%); radio and television programming and broadcasting (5.9%), and maritime transportation (4.3%).

On the opposite side, the activities that cut sales the most compared to the previous month were information services (-8.5%); film activities, television programs and music publishing (-8%) and office administrative activities (-2.1%).

EMPLOYMENT SLOWES ITS GROWTH RATE TO 1.9%

For the twenty-eighth consecutive month, employment in the services sector grew last July, and it did so at an interannual rate of 1.9%, a rate one tenth lower than that of June.

Specifically, within the services sector, employment rose 2% year-on-year in commerce and 1.8% in other services.

The largest increases in employment compared to July 2022 occurred in information and communications (3.5%), transportation and storage (3%) and professional activities (2.5%).

In monthly terms, employment in the services sector fell 0.3% after rising 0.2% in commerce and falling 0.6% in other services.

ALL COMMUNITIES GAIN EMPLOYED

The annual employment rate in the services sector increased compared to July 2022 in all autonomous communities.

The Balearic Islands, with an increase of 4.5%, recorded the highest year-on-year increase in employment in services last July, followed by Madrid (2.8%), Navarra (2.6%) and the Canary Islands (2.8%). 4%).

The most moderate increases in employment occurred in Cantabria (0.1%), Aragón (1%) and Extremadura (1.1%).