Spain | What sectors are driving the increase in productivity within the country?

Summary

Productivity per hour worked has returned to the growth path experienced in the 2014–2018 period. Following a worrying stagnation during the two years leading up to the pandemic, this indicator got back to an annual growth rate of 1.1% between 2022 and 2024, while the same indicator stagnated in the wider EMU.

Key points

• Key points:
• This improvement could be taking place because there has been a redirection of resources from less productive areas to more efficient ones, or because there have been further productivity gains within each sector.
• The heavier impact on productivity growth is not down to a relative redistribution of resources, but to improvements observed within each sector, as shown in a report by BBVA Research.
• Productivity per hour worked has increased partly because more efficient sectors have been gaining weight when it comes to employment, though more because service companies (mainly those operating in tourism), together with industry, have shown a differentially positive performance with respect to other sectors.
• The most paradigmatic case has been trade, transportation and hospitality, where productivity per hour worked has increased by 7% since 2019.
• Aside from many less productive firms going belly up, numerous enterprises have been making the most of the recovery to invest in digitalisation and process automation, while also offering better quality products and services.

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