Service sector shows notable turnover gains across the board
The service industry, according to the National Institute of Statistics, INE, reported a 23.2% rise in turnover in August when compared with August 2021. This marks an acceleration of five percentage points from the month before, underscoring sustained momentum as the sector rebounds from pandemic-related declines.
With August, the service chain records 18 straight months of year‑over‑year growth after a downturn during the pandemic’s peak. Within the broader sector, the strongest sales increases came from administrative activities and ancillary services at 36.1%, wholesale trade at 29.1%, and the hospitality sector, including accommodation services and food and beverage services, which climbed 24.4% versus the prior year.
Specifically, accommodation services saw a 34.4% jump in sales, while food and beverage services posted a 17.7% higher turnover than in August 2021.
In terms of activity areas, travel agencies and tour operators doubled their sales with a 103.3% increase, and air transport rose by 89.1% year over year, highlighting strong demand in travel-related services.
More business turnover across the sector
Financial indicators confirm that share trading firms increased their annual turnover by 23.7%. Other services, including accommodation, along with related sub-sectors, recorded a 22.4% sales rise compared with August 2021.
In the trading arena, wholesale trade led the annual gains at 29.1%, followed by retail trade at 15.9% and vehicle sales and repairs at a 12% uptick from the previous year.
Regarding other services, the strongest annual gains occurred in administrative activities at 36.1%, followed by hotels with 24.4%; transport and storage at 23.6%; professional, scientific and technical activities at 19%; and information and communication at 10.7%.
By autonomous communities, the year‑over‑year turnover rose in all regions. The most pronounced increases appeared in the Balearic Islands at 41.2%, Galicia at 32.8%, the Canary Islands at 30.2% and Madrid at 28.4%. La Rioja and Castilla-La Mancha also posted notable gains at 9.4% and 13.7%, respectively.
After adjusting for calendar effects and seasonality, the services sector turnover grew 22.7% in August versus August of the prior year, marking a two‑point increase from July.
In the first eight months of the year, services turnover averaged a 22.7% rise (22.9% in seasonally adjusted series), with travel agencies up 208.8%, air transportation up 144.1%, and accommodation services up 117% compared with the same period the previous year.
Monthly gains: a 2% rise
On a monthly basis, and after calendar and seasonal adjustments, the services sector posted a 2% increase in August, breaking a two‑month decline.
Other services rose 1.5% month over month, with most sub‑sectors posting higher billing except for transport and warehousing, which declined 0.2%. The strongest monthly growth occurred in professional, scientific and technical activities at 8.3%. Accommodation and administrative activities each rose by 1.7%, and information and communication by 1.1%.
In trade, gains of 2.3% were seen in August compared with July. Vehicle sales and repair led the increments at 4.3%, wholesale trade was up 2.4%, and retail trade rose 1.6% from July.
As for sub-sectors, the largest monthly increases occurred in professional, scientific and technical activities at 14.9%; oppression at 7.3%; and architectural and engineering technical services at 6.9%.
Monthly declines featured film events, television programs, and music broadcasting at 1.9% below July; office administrative activities down 1.7%; and employment-related activities down 1.1%.
Employment growth slows
For the seventeenth consecutive month, and after more than a year of decline, employment in the service sector rose in August, with an annual rate of 3.6%, down five tenths from July.
In August, occupancy rates rose 4.6% in other services and 2.1% in trade. Among other services, hostel operators led with a 7.1% year‑to‑year increase in occupancy, followed by information and communication at 6.1%.
Only two regions posted employment declines in August: Aragon with a 1.1% decrease and Cantabria with a 0.1% drop. Fifteen other regions showed annual employment gains. The Balearic Islands reported the strongest growth, up 10.1% year over year, becoming the first to reach a double‑digit rise once again.
Behind them, year‑over‑year advances in employment were recorded in the Canary Islands at 6.5%, Extremadura at 4.8%, Catalonia at 4.5%, and Madrid at 4.4%, with more modest increases seen in La Rioja at 0.3%, Castilla y León at 1.3%, and the Basque Country at 1.5%.