Services turnover index, in nominal terms and adjusted for calendar and seasonal effects, presented a year-on-year change rate of 0.7% in March, 20.6 percentage points (p.p.) better than the previous month. This strong recovery partially reflects the comparison with March 2020, the first month significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 1st quarter of 2021 registered a decrease of 12.7% compared to the same period in 2020 (-13.4% in the previous quarter).
The year-on-year change rates of the indices of employment, wages and salaries and number of hours worked adjusted of calendar effects were -9.0%, -5.9% and -14.6%, respectively (-9.6%, -7.4% and -25.0% in February, by the same order).
Despite the circumstances determined by the pandemic COVID-19, Statistics Portugal calls for the best collaboration by companies, families and public entities in responding to Statistics Portugal’s data requests. The quality of official statistics, particularly its ability to identify the impacts of the pandemic COVID-19, crucially depends on this collaboration, which Statistics Portugal thanks in advance.