Press Release 10/08/2016

SERVICE STATISTICS. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND AUXILIARY SERVICES 2014

The Professional Activities and Auxiliary Services sector employed 115,760 of those employed in the Basque Country in 2014, which is 11.8% of the total

The number of establishments, turnover and employment all increased compared with the previous year

The Professional Activities and Auxiliary Services sector generated 8.318 billion euros in 2014 and employed 115,760 people, which constituted 11.8% of the total number of jobs in the Basque economy according to Eustat data. The whole sector had 28,251 establishments in 2014, which is a 1.1% increase compared to the previous year. Turnover also increased by 3.3%, and employment rose by 0.8% compared with the previous year.

The Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities sub-sector, which encompasses Accounting and Legal Activity groups, Architectural and Engineering Services, Research and Development, Advertising and Market Research and Other Professional Activities, shows the highest amount of turnover with 65.8% of the total. It nearly employs the same number of people as the Administrative Activities and Auxiliary Services sub-sector. In 2014, the sector experienced a 3.5% upturn in terms of turnover and a 0.3% upturn in employment.

Within this sector, the activity branches that stand out in particular are Accounting and Legal Activities and Architectural and Engineering Services, which account for almost 70% of employment in the sector and nearly 80% of the sector's turnover. Both branches saw their turnover increase – 4.3% and 3.2% respectively – compared with the previous year. In terms of employment, however, whilst the branch of Accounting and Legal Activities created employment in 2014, which was up 1.0% from 2013, the number of individuals employed within Architectural and Engineering Services fell by 2.0%.

The branch within this sub-sector that recorded the greatest upturn compared with the previous year was Other Professional Activities (which, amongst others, includes Design, Photography, Translation, Interpreting and Veterinary Activities), which saw its turnover rise by 8.2% and employment rise by 5.8%, even though it accounted for 7% of turnover and 10.5% of employment in the sub-sector in 2014.

The Administrative Activities and Auxiliary Services sub-sector, which is made up of Rental Activity groups, Employment-related Activities, Travel Agencies and Other Service Activities and constitutes 34.2% of the total turnover, also experienced an upturn. The sub-sector's turnover rose by 2.9% and employment rose by 1.2%.

The branch within this sub-sector with the greatest weight was Other Service Activities (which includes Security and Research Activities, Gardening and Building Services and Auxiliary Business Services), which accounted for 80% of the sub-sector's employment and over 55% of its turnover. Compared with the previous year, this branch saw growth, albeit moderate, of 0.4% in turnover and 0.1% in employment.

Employment-related Activities in fact experienced the greatest rates of growth, both within the sector and within professional activities and auxiliary services overall, as it saw its turnover figure rise by 14.3% and employment rise by 11.5%.

An analysis according to the size of establishments in the Professional Activities and Auxiliary Services sector as a whole revealed that micro-enterprises (with fewer than 10 employees) comprised 94.6% of establishments and generated 43.9% of total turnover with 37.3% of the employed personnel. Small companies (with 10 to 49 employees) represented 4.3% of establishments with 20.9% of employment, and 27.8% of total turnover. Finally, companies with 50 or more employees (medium and large companies) generated 28.3% of total turnover, provided employment to 41.8% of people in work and represented 1.1% of all establishments.

By province, for the sector as a whole in 2014, the three provinces experienced an upturn in terms of turnover and employment. In Bizkaia, which accounted or 61.4% of total sales in the Basque Country, the Professional Activities and Auxiliary Services sector as a whole saw its turnover figure increase by 3.0% and employment rise by 0.7%. Gipuzkoa turned over 5.2% more than in 2013, which accounted for 26.0% of total sales, and saw a rise in staff of 0.4%. In Álava, employment rose by 1.8%, and its turnover figure also rose by 0.9%, accounting for 12.6% of total sales.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel: 945 01 75 62 More press releases about the Service statistics