The National Statistics Office said today that provisional seasonally adjusted data indicate that in the first quarter, turnover in selected services activities increased by 1.6 per cent over the previous quarter.

Over the corresponding quarter in 2012, working- day adjusted services turnover went up by 3.4 per cent.

In spite of drops in motor trade (-12.1 per cent) and administrative and support services activities (-22.0 per cent), seasonally adjusted services turnover index increased from 115.2 to 117.0 points, or 1.6 per cent.

This was due to increases in wholesale trade (+5.5 per cent), non-food retail trade (+4.0 per cent), transportation and storage (+0.3 per cent), information and communication (+5.2 per cent), and professional, scientific and technical activities (+3.8 per cent).

Seasonally adjusted employment, gross wages and salaries and hours worked also went up by 1.5, 1.3 and 2.2 per cent respectively.

When compared to the corresponding quarter last year, working day adjusted turnover for the first quarter went up by 3.4 per cent. Wholesale trade, retail trade, information and communication and professional, scientific and technical activities were the main contributors, with increases of 10.6, 0.6, 0.8 and 7.1 per cent respectively.

Employment in services activities went up by 2.2 per cent, mainly due to increases registered in wholesale trade (+10.5 per cent), accommodation and food services activities (+0.7 per cent), information and communication (+3.7 per cent) and professional, scientific and technical activities (+4.7 per cent).

Working day adjusted gross wages and salaries and hours worked also registered increases of 4.4 and 2.8 per cent respectively.

Permalink: Turnover in selected services activities up by 1.6% in Q1