Press release 15/02/2021

SERVICE SECTOR INDEX. MARKET SERVICES. IV/2021

The Services sector in the Basque Country saw a 16.7% overall drop in sales in 2020

Sales in the Services sector in the fourth quarter were down 14.8% on the same quarter of the previous year

The 2020 balance for overall sales in the Market Services sector, referred to here as the Services sector, decreased by 16.7% in homogeneous terms of the working calendar and at constant prices, according to Eustat data.

In 2020, a year marked by the restrictions adopted to combat the crisis caused by COVID-19, all the subsectors within the Services sector saw a reduction in sales to varying degrees.

In the case of Hotel Management & Catering, sales were down 39.6% and Administrative Activities and Auxiliary Services fell by 20.6%. The decrease was smaller in Transport & Storage, with 11.4% fewer sales than in 2019. In Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities they were down 6.8% and the least affected was the Information and Communications subsector, with 3.0% fewer sales in 2020 than in 2019.

There were downturns in all three provinces in 2020 as a whole. In Bizkaia and Álava there was a 15.9% drop, whereas in Gipuzkoa the decrease was even greater at 18.5%, all at constant prices and in homogeneous terms of the working calendar.

In 2020, there was a 3.1% drop in the number of personnel employed in the Services sector compared to the previous year.

FOURTH QUARTER OF 2020

Looking at data from the fourth quarter of 2020 alone, sales in the Services sector in the Basque Country posted a 14.8% drop in real terms compared to the fourth quarter of the previous year.

Compared to the previous quarter, and once any seasonal effects had been eliminated, sales in the Services sector recorded a drop of 2.4% at constant prices.

In the Services sector, the year-on-year performance in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to the same quarter of the previous year was negative across all subsectors. In the last quarter of the year, sales in Hotel Management & Catering were down 42.3%, Administrative Activities & Auxiliary Services dropped 18.8%, the Transport & Storage subsector declined by 8.2%, Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities fell by 3.8% and, lastly, the Information and Communications subsector decreased by 1.9%.

By province, the year-on-year decreases in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to the last quarter of 2019 were very similar: in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa they were down 14.8% in both cases and in Álava they dropped by 14.7%.

Finally, the index of people employed in the Basque Country saw a downturn of 3.6% in the last quarter of 2020 compared to the last quarter of 2019.

NOTE:

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) in its methodological note Guidance on Time Series Treatment in the context of the COVID-19 crisis.

Eustat would like to thank all the establishments that have collaborated in making this effort despite the circumstances. As a result, the index for the fourth quarter was calculated with 93.08% coverage of the sample – whose information was collected during January.

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