Press Release 14/09/2020

CONSTRUCTION INDEX. II/2020

Activity in the Construction sector in the Basque Country fell by 19.9% in the second quarter of 2020

The Building sub-sector decreased by 20.4% and the Civil Works sub-sector was down 16.5%

Construction activity in the Basque Country registered a year-on-year nominal downturn of 19.9% in the second quarter of 2020, in homogeneous terms of the working calendar, according to EUSTAT data.

The drop in the Construction sector in this quarter was due to the negative performance of both the Building subsector, which registered a year-on-year downturn of 20.4%, and the Civil Works subsector, which fell by 16.5%.

If the activity of the sector in the second quarter of 2020 is compared to the previous quarter, once seasonal effects have been corrected the Construction sector decreased by 21.8%. In quarter-on-quarter terms, both the Building and Civil Works subsectors showed a downward trend, although to different degrees, given that the former decreased by 22.6% while the latter fell by 11.5%.

Continuing with the quarter-on-quarter comparison, the number of people employed in the construction sector in the second quarter of 2020 was down 1.8% in respect of the first quarter of 2020.

NOTE

The state of alarm declared in Royal Decree 463/2020 of 14 March in order to manage the health crisis caused by COVID-19 ended on 21 June. The exceptional measures adopted during the state of alarm have had a direct impact on the companies that participate in the Construction Index.

Included as persons employed considered in this and other short-term indices, are those covered by an ERTE (Temporary Labour Force Adjustment Plan), following the definition of persons employed indicated by the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) in its manual Methodology of Short Term Business Statistics.

The models used in the correction of calendar effects and deseasonalisation of the series include the effect of COVID-19 on the variables studied, following the recommendations of the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) (Eurostat) in its methodological note Guidance on Time Series Treatment in the context of the COVID-19 crisis..

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 second quarter of 2020 was calculated with 90.28% coverage of the sample.

Para más información:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Servicio de Prensa: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tlf: 945 01 75 62

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