Retail trade in medium-size and large premises (non-specialised) grew by 3.6% in nominal terms during the second quarter of the year. Once the inflationary effect had been taken into account, the change in the inter-annual rate was –1% on the same quarter of the previous year.
In the second quarter of 2002 nominal sales in traditional retail trade (specialised) fell by –0.1% with respect to the same period in 2001. This nominal decrease, once adjusted for price inflation, reflects a fall of –1.8% in real terms.
There was an increase of 0.1% in the number of employed persons in the retail trade sector during the second quarter of 2002 when compared to the previous quarter. The growth in employment took place in the non-specialised retail trade sector (0.9%), compared to the specialised or traditional sector which fell by –0.1%.
According to the Provincial breakdown, the highest growth in nominal sales in the retail sector occured in Alava, with an inter-annual increase of 2.7%, arising from an increase in non-specialised retail trade (4%). Bizkaia follows with a positive change of 1.8% in the general index, while Gipuzkoa fell in sales by –0.8% due to a sharp fall in specialised trade (-3.6%).
Sales in real terms fell in the three provinces: in Gipuzkoa by –3.2%, in Bizkaia by –0.8 and in Alava by –0.1%.
With regard to employment in the retail trade sector during the first half year of 2002, there was an accumulated increase (in comparison with the same half year period in 2001) in all three provinces: Alava (5.8%) and Gipuzkoa (2.5%), while there was a slight increase in Bizkaia of 0.2%.