MADRID, June 21. (EUROPA PRESS) - The services sector increased its turnover by 0.8% last April compared to the same month of 2022, moderating the rise registered the previous month by almost nine points, as reported this Wednesday the National Statistics Institute (INE).
With the advance in April, the services chain 26 consecutive months of year-on-year increases, although that of April has been the least pronounced of that entire period.
The trade invoiced last March 2.2% less than in the same month of 2022, due to the fact that the wholesale trade cut its sales by 8% year-on-year. In contrast, the sale and repair of vehicles and motorcycles billed 10.4% more compared to April 2022, and retail trade, 8.8% more.
For their part, other services increased their sales by 7% year-on-year in April driven by administrative activities (12.4%), professional activities (10.9%) and hospitality, which billed 10.7% more.
Sales also increased, although less, in information and communications, which increased its turnover by 7.8% compared to April 2022 and, on the other hand, fell by 0.2% in transport and storage.
Within the hotel industry, accommodation services increased their sales by 12.3%, while food and beverage services billed 10% more than in April 2022.
By activities, the greatest increases in sales were recorded by travel agencies and tour operators (38.5%) and air transport, which increased by 27.8%. In contrast, the greatest decreases corresponded to other wholesale trade (-24.2%) and trade intermediaries (-11.6%).
THE BALEARIC ISLANDS LEADS THE INCREASE IN SALES AND EMPLOYMENT
By autonomous communities, thirteen of them increased the billing of their services last April compared to the same month of 2022 and four cut it: Navarra (-3.8%), Madrid (-2.9%), Castilla y León (-2.2%) and the Basque Country (-1.1%).
For their part, the greatest advances in sales occurred in the Balearic Islands (15.8%), Murcia (6.2%), the Canary Islands (3.2%) and Catalonia (3.1%), while the smallest registered in Galicia (0.2%) and the Valencian Community (0.7%).
Corrected for the calendar and seasonal effect, the billing of the services sector rose 2.2% in April in relation to the same month of 2022, a rate 8.2 points lower than that of March.
In the first four months of the year, sales of services accumulate an average increase of 7.6% (7.9% in the seasonally adjusted series), highlighting the rises of travel agencies (59.3%) and transport air (47.3%).
SALES DECREASE BY 0.1% IN THE MONTH
In monthly terms (April over March) and in seasonally and calendar-adjusted data, the services sector registered a monthly decrease in sales of 0.1% in the fourth month of the year, thus accumulating two consecutive months of falls ( -0.3% in March).
Commerce exclusively contributed to this decrease, which reduced its sales by 0.6%, compared to the rise experienced by other services (0.7%), which were especially driven by the hotel and catering industry, whose turnover shot up by 7.9 % compared to March thanks to Easter.
Within the seasonally adjusted series, the activities that registered the highest monthly increases in their billing were accommodation services (13.2%); programming, consultancy and other computer-related activities (2.8%), and advertising and market research (2.1%).
On the opposite side, the activities that cut sales the most compared to the previous month were travel agencies (-9.6%); wholesale trade (-5.9%) and film activities, television programs and music publishing (-4.8%).
EMPLOYMENT SLOWS ITS GROWTH RATE TO 2.1%
For the twenty-fifth consecutive month, employment in the services sector grew last April, and it did so at an interannual rate of 2.1%, a rate one tenth lower than that of March.
Specifically, within the services sector, employment rose 1.5% year-on-year in commerce and 2.4% in other services.
The greatest rises in employment compared to April 2022 occurred in information and communications (4.7%), hospitality (3.6%) and transport and storage (3.3%) and only administrative activities cut staff, with a year-on-year drop in employment of 0.6%.
In monthly terms, employment in the services sector increased by 1.1% after increasing by 0.2% in commerce and increasing by 1.7% in other services.
ONLY CANTABRIA DESTROYED JOBS IN THE LAST YEAR
The annual rate of employment in the services sector increased compared to April 2022 in 16 autonomous communities and only decreased in Cantabria (-0.8%).
The Balearic Islands (7.3%) registered the highest year-on-year increase in employment in services last April, followed by the Canary Islands (3.9%), Madrid (3.3%) and Murcia and Castilla-La Mancha, both with advances of 2.4%.
The most moderate upturns in employment occurred in Castilla y León and Aragón, which increased their employment by only 0.6%.
