Quarterly turnover in selected services activities up by 1%

Provisional seasonally adjusted data indicate that in the third quarter of 2012, turnover in selected services activities increased by 1.0 per cent over the previous quarter. Over the corresponding quarter of the previous year, working day adjusted services turnover went up by 4.4 per cent.

According to the National Statistics Office, during the third quarter of 2012 turnover in selected activities increased by 1 per cent. The sectors that carry most weight, such as wholesale trade, retail trade and transportation and storage, increased their turnover by 0.4, 0.5 and 0.7 per cent respectively.

In contrast, turnover in accommodation and food services activities, and information and communication, declined by 1.0 and 1.4 per cent respectively.

Seasonally adjusted employment edged up by 0.1 per cent while gross wages and salaries and hours worked increased by 0.8 and 1.2 per cent respectively.

Working day adjusted turnover for the quarter under review went up by 4.4 per cent on the corresponding period of 2011. All sectors showed an upward trend, with the exception of information and communications, which decreased marginally by 0.5 per cent.

Most notably, increases of 5.4 and 4.2 per cent in wholesale and retail trade respectively were registered.

Employment in services activities decreased by 1.1 per cent when compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The downward trend was mainly due to retail trade, transportation and storage and accommodation and food services activities, with declines of 1.1, 2.4 and 0.6 per cent respectively.

The sectors that showed upward trends in employment were wholesale trade, information and communication and professional, scientific and technical activities of 2.2, 1.0 and 2.8 per cent respectively.

Furthermore, working day adjusted wages and salaries advanced by 3.6 per cent, while hours worked decreased by 1.2 per cent.