The lifting of restrictions on mobility led to a 6.6% increase in household consumption between April and June
The Spanish economy grew by 2.8% in the second quarter of the year, which represents a rebound compared to the fall in the first quarter, thanks to the lifting of restrictions to contain the covid-19 pandemic.
However, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) explains that for this advance in national accounting, most of the short-term indicators collected are from April and May, so it is expected that the future revision of the data will be of a magnitude greater than habitual.
According to the national accounting figures advanced this Friday, national demand added 3.6 points to the increase in GDP, thanks to the rebound in consumption, mainly of households, as investment deepened its fall.
This positive contribution more than offset the negative contribution of 0.8 points from foreign demand (exports and imports).
The lifting of restrictions on mobility led to a 6.6% increase in household consumption between April and June.
However, investment as a whole sharpened its decline to 1.9%, due to the relapse of that directed to capital goods and machinery, up to 1.7%, and of that destined to housing and construction, which continued falling, although it moderated to 2%.
Exports rebounded with a slight rise of 0.4%, while imports grew 2.9%, after having fallen 1.3% in the previous quarter.
Employment in the economy, measured in hours worked, increased by 4.4% compared to the previous quarter, while full-time equivalent jobs decreased by 0.2%, due to the rise in hours worked and the increase in employment. half day.
HISTORICAL YEAR-OLD ECONOMIC GROWTH
Compared to a year earlier, GDP shot up 19.8%, rebounding from the 4.2% drop in the previous quarter and marking the highest rate in the historical series.
This dynamism is a consequence of the comparison effect with the second quarter of 2020, when the economy was fully affected by the outbreak of the pandemic, even going into hibernation.
In this year-on-year comparison, domestic demand contributed 20.3 points to economic growth, the highest contribution in the historical series, thanks to record growth in household consumption, while external demand subtracted 0.5 points.
Compared to a year ago, employment grew by 18.9%, representing an increase of 2.82 million full-time equivalent jobs in one year, while hours worked increased by 28.8%, after five quarters of declines.
From the supply side, all sectors of activity increased, except agriculture (-1.2%), and the advances in trade, transport and hospitality (52.1%), the manufacturing industry (31.9%) stood out. ) and artistic, recreational and other services activities (31.3%).
Employment measured in hours worked grew in all sectors of activity, with the highest intensity in construction (44.9%) and services (34.5%).
