Press release 15/05/2020

SERVICE SECTOR INDEX. OTHER MARKET SERVICES. I/2020

Sales in Market Services in the Basque Country were down 5.8% in the first quarter of 2020

Employment in the sector fell by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2020

The sectors that come under Other Market Services (hereinafter Market Services) registered a 5.8% decrease in sales compared to the first quarter of the previous year, in real terms and once calendar effects had been discounted, according to Eustat data.

Compared to the previous quarter, these services reduced their sales by 7.0% at constant prices and once any seasonal effects had been eliminated.

Within Market Services, the year-on-year downturn in real sales is generalised. Of particular note is the drop in sales in the Hotel Management and Catering sector, with an estimated fall of 14.2%. It is followed by the Sales Indices of Administrative Activities & Auxiliary Services with a decrease of 5.0%; Transport and Storage, down 4.2%, Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities, which registered a year-on-year variation of -3.3%; and, finally the Information & Communications sector, which fell by 0.7%. All the above in relation to the first quarter of the previous year and once corrected for calendar effects.

By province, and once the price and calendar effects had been discounted, in Álava there was year-on-year decrease in the Sales Index of 4.2%, in Bizkaia it was down 5.8% and in Gipuzkoa there was a fall of 6.5%.

The index of people employed in Market Services as a whole for the Basque Country dropped 0.3% in the year-on-year period. In relation to the previous quarter, the decrease was 1.1%.

NOTE ON THE EFFECT OF THE COVID-19 CRISIS ON THE SERVICE SECTOR INDEX

Royal Decree 463/2020, of 14 March, declared a state of alarm in order to manage the health crisis caused by COVID-19.

The exceptional measures adopted brought the majority of service sector companies to a partial or total standstill during the last two weeks of March. Therefore, the Service Sector Index for this first quarter was affected by this exceptional situation in a sixth of the period to which it refers.

Due to this situation, obtaining the necessary information for compiling the Service Sector Index required a greater degree of effort, by both the companies surveyed and the personnel dedicated to collecting and processing the information.

Eustat would like to thank all the companies that have collaborated in making this effort despite the extraordinary circumstances. As a result, the index for the first quarter of 2020 was calculated with 83.30% coverage of the sample - whose information was mainly collected during April.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62