In July, the Services Business Volume Index showed a nominal year-on-year variation of 2.1%, representing a slowdown of 2.5 percentage points compared to June, when growth was more robust. In real terms, the situation is more worrying, with a decrease of 2.6%, contrasting with the slight decline of 0.1% seen in the previous month. The monthly comparison also reveals a nominal reduction of 1.6%, after the growth of 2.6% recorded in June, showing a possible cooling in the economic activities of the services sector.
The employment, remuneration and hours worked indices also showed calendar-adjusted year-on-year variations. Employment fell 1.3%, remuneration increased 4.9% and hours worked grew 0.6%. All these indicators reflected a slowdown compared to June, when the variations were 1.5%, 7.1% and 2.0%, respectively.
The data suggest a scenario of challenges for the services sector, with a need for careful monitoring of future economic fluctuations. The cooling trend observed across multiple indicators points to a broader slowdown in the sector, which may have implications for the economy as a whole. The data source is the National Statistics Institute.
