Retail sales rise but employment falls

THE amount of sales made by the retail trade in the Balearics in November rose by three percent in comparison with the same month in 2005, once inflation has been taken into account. However, employment in the Balearics in this area dropped by 0.1 percent in November, the only fall in any of the autonomous regions.
According to figures published yesterday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), retail sector sales throughout Spain grew by 3.5 percent in comparision with November 2005, while employment in the sector rose by 1.4 percent. If the Retail Commerce Index is not corrected for the effects of inflation, the rise works out at 3.9 percent.
The rise in turnover for the retail sector was the result of a rise of three percent in sales of food products and a rise of 3.8 percent in non food products. With regard to the non food products, sales of personal goods grew by 4.6 percent, household goods by 2.6 percent, and other goods by 2.7 percent.
The turnover for large stores (those of more than 2'500 square metres) rose by 3.6 percent in November in comparison with last November.
This was due to a rise of one percent in sales of food products and a rise of 5.2 percent in sales of non food products.
If the effect of inflation is disregarded, the sales rose by 3.8 percent.
By regions, the biggest rise in retail sales was recorded in Murcia, with 9.1 percent.
This was followed by Andalucia with 6 percent, then Cantabria with 5.9 percent.
At the other end of the scale, the region which recorded the least amount of increase was the Basque Region, with a rise of just 0.6 percent.
This was followed by Valencia with 1.4 percent and Catalonia with 1.6 percent.
With regard to employment, the biggest increase was in Murcia, with 7.8 percent.
This was followed by Cantabria with 5.8 percent and then came Madrid with 3.5 percent.
In contrast to these, the Balearics had a decrease of 0.1 percent in employment in the retail sector and Andalucia had no change.
Statistics for the Retail Commerce Index are compiled by the INE with the objective of tracking the short term development of sales and employment in the retail sector in Spain.