Press Release 14/05/2021

SERVICE SECTOR INDEX. OTHER MARKET SERVICES. I/2021

Sales in the Services sector in the Basque Country decreased by 7.6% in the first quarter of 2021 in year-on-year terms

They were down by 1.9% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020

Sales in the Other Market Services sector in the Basque Country fell by 7.6% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same quarter of 2020 at constant prices and once calendar effects had been eliminated, according to data prepared by Eustat. The services offered by the sectors of Hotel Management & Catering, Transport, Information & Communications and Corporate Services Activities were taken into account.

Compared to the previous quarter, sales were up 1.9% in the first quarter of 2021, at constant prices and once corrected for seasonal effects.

Within the Services sector, there was an overall drop in real sales in year-on-year terms (at constant prices), except in the case of Transport & Storage, where they were up 1.9%. The sectors with the largest year-on-year downturn in sales were Hotel Management & Catering, with an estimated drop of 28.3%, and Administrative Activities & Auxiliary Services, with a fall of 14.7%. They were followed by Professional, scientific and technical activities, which recorded a downturn of 3.8% and, lastly, the Information & Communications sector, where they declined by 1.7%.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, most sectors generally recovered. Hotel Management & Catering saw a 13.2% upturn in sales in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter, in Transport & Storage they were up 6.8% and there was a 4.2% increase in sales in Administrative Activities & Auxiliary Services. A quarter-on-quarter decline in sales was observed in Professional, scientific and technical activities (variation of -1.3%) and in Information & Communications (variation of -0.8%).

By province, in Bizkaia there was an 8.7% year-on-year decrease in the sales index, in Gipuzkoa it was down 6.1% and in Álava it fell 5.8%.

In relation to the preceding quarter, on the other hand, sales increased by 3.9% in Gipuzkoa, by 3.1% in Álava and, lastly, by 0.6% in Bizkaia.

The index of people employed in Services as a whole for the Basque Country dropped 3.6% in the year-on-year period. In relation to the previous quarter there was an increase of 0.8%.

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 first quarter was calculated with 93.20% coverage of the sample – whose information was 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