The service sector is currently resisting the pulse of inflation. Its sales increased by 14% in November (it grows 1.6 points less than the previous month), which implies that its progress is moderated but also that it is resisting strongly despite the slowdown in the economy, which in the third quarter stagnated at 0.1 % The data offered by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) this Wednesday already reflect some symptoms of exhaustion.
Through the advance in November, the most moderate since July 2021, the services chain 21 consecutive months of year-on-year increases after a year of falls as a result of the pandemic. This implies that the annual rate is around a growth of 13.4% if we take into account the corrected series and the seasonal and calendar effects.
Commerce billed 16.1% more than in the same month of 2021 last November, while other services increased their sales by 9.7% year-on-year, driven especially by administrative activities and auxiliary services (+ 15.5%)), hospitality (+14.7%) and professional, scientific and technical activities, which increased their turnover by 10.4% year-on-year.
Within the hotel industry, accommodation services increased their sales by 21.3%, while food and beverage services billed 12.2% more than in November 2021. In terms of turnover, this sector has reached 0.4 in monthly terms if we consider the seasonal effects and corrected market.
By activity, the greatest increases in sales were registered by travel agencies and tour operators (+63.4%) and air transport, which increased by 51.6%. Among the decreases, the most pronounced corresponded to film and television program activities (-34.4%) and rail transport, which cut its turnover by 10.3% compared to November 2021.
In monthly terms and in seasonally and calendar-adjusted data, the services sector increased a monthly increase in sales of 2.7% in November 2022, its highest increase since last April. For the twentieth consecutive month, employment in the services sector grew last November, and it did so at an interannual rate of 2.2%, a rate five tenths lower than that of October.
Registers of the autonomous communities
The Balearic Islands was the community that increased job creation in the service sector the most during the month of November, with an interannual rise of 8.6%. This is followed by the Canary Islands (4%) showing a clear dominance of the archipelagos in terms of occupation. The next community with the most employment in the sector during November was Extremadura (3.5%). However, there are also communities that have reduced their number of employees, with Aragón being the most affected community with a decrease of 1.8%. They are followed by Cantabria (-1.6%) and the Comunidad Foral de Navarra (-0.4%).
On the other hand, Galicia was the region that increased sales the most, 30.7% in the interannual rate. This is followed by the Balearic Islands (22.9%) and the Autonomous Community of Navarra (19%), on the opposite side are the most isolated communities in commercial terms, which are: the Principality of Asturias (5.9%) , Extremadura (5.5%) and the Region of Murcia (3.4%).
