Retail trade registered in 2022 an average increase in sales of 0.7% and an employment growth rate of 2.2%, the highest in the entire series, which began in 2004, as reported on Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
With the rebound achieved in 2022, the retail trade chains two years of growth in its sales after the black year that 2020 was for the sector due to the Covid crisis, with a drop in sales in that year of 6.8%.
However, despite the fact that the sector sold more in 2022 than in 2021, sales growth has slowed down by 2.5 points compared to the previous year.
Stripping out seasonal and calendar effects, retail turnover increased by 0.8% in 2022.
In the last month of 2022, retail trade sales registered an interannual increase of 3.5%, compared to the decrease of 0.7% in November.
In a monthly rate (December 2022 compared to November of the same year) and removing the seasonal and calendar effect, retail sales fell by 1.7%, a rate 4.9 points lower than that of the previous month.
In terms of employment, the sector registered an average increase in employment of 2.2% in 2022, with increases in all modes of distribution, led by large stores (3%), large chains (2.2%), single-location companies (2.1%) and small chains (1.8%).
SMALL CHAINS, WHERE SALES RISE THE MOST
Likewise, small chains were the distribution mode that increased its sales the most in 2022, billing on average (corrected for seasonal and calendar effects) 3% more than in 2021, followed by large stores (1.3%). .
For their part, single-location companies cut their sales by 3.5% and large chains, 0.4%.
According to data from the statistical agency, sales of food products fell by 1.8% in 2022, while those of non-food products rebounded by 0.1%.
Among the latter, the greatest increase in sales occurred in the personal equipment segment (14.9%), followed by other goods (-0.9%) and household equipment (-0.2%).
Retail sales, excluding service stations, fell 0.8% last year compared to 2021, while sales at service stations soared 12.7%.
In the whole of 2022, the Balearic Islands (8.2%) and the Canary Islands (7.2%) registered the highest increases in sales, compared to Castilla-La Mancha (-3.4%) and the Basque Country (-2.5 %) that presented the most negative mean rates.
Regarding employment, the Balearic Islands had the largest increase (6.4%) in the whole of last year and the Principality of Asturias the only decrease (-0.7%).
