The value of services output increased 2% in June, driven by improvements in the information & communication and accommodation & food service activities sectors, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Increases of 4.5% and 2.3% in the value of output in information & communication and accommodation & food services, respectively, cancelled out a decline of 4% recorded in the value of transportation & storage services.
There were also increases of output value in professional, scientific & technical activities (+1.3%) and administrative & support service activities (+0.9%) and declines in other service activities (-0.3%) and wholesale & retail trade (-0.2%).
On an annual basis, the value of services output was 21.5% higher in June 2022 compared to June 2021, and 22.7% higher than in February 2022, the final full month before the onset of Covid-19 in Ireland.
"The sectors showing an increase in value since February 2020 were information & communication (+45.9%), wholesale & retail trade (+13.3%) and professional, scientific & technical activities (+12.8%).
Accommodation & food service activities (-4.8%), other service activities (-4.0%) and transportation & storage (-2.2%) recorded declines.
"All sectors showed an increase in activity compared with June 2021, with a number of sectors showing large annual increases," said Stephanie Kelleher, statistician in the business statistics division at the CSO.
"The largest annual increases were in accommodation & food service activities (+95.2%), transportation & storage (+48.9%), other service activities (+32.2%) and administrative & support service activities (+21.9%).
"Caution should be exercised when interpreting these increases, as the comparison is with a very low base from a year ago. The remaining increases were information & communication (+20.7%), professional, scientific & technical activities (+16.0%) and wholesale & retail trade (+7.7%).
The volume of services in June increased 1.5% compared to May, with information & communication (+6.7%) and accommodation & food service activities (+1%) again experiencing the largest increases.
Transportation & storage (-3.6%), other service activities (-0.8%), administrative & support service activities (-0.3%), wholesale & retail trade (-0.2%) and professional, scientific & technical Activities (-0.1%) all saw declines in value month-on-month.
Services were 17.3% higher in volume terms in June 2022 compared with June 2021, and 21.4% higher than in February 2020.
"Most sectors showed an increase in volume. The largest annual sector increases were in accommodation & food service activities (+81.4%), transportation & storage (+29.4%) and other service activities (+24.4%)," Kelleher said, again warning of the law base.
"The volume of services in June 2022 was 21.4% higher than February 2020 (28 months earlier and pre-COVID-19) with a number of sectors showing an increase from February 2020 levels. These were information & communication +48.3%), professional, scientific & technical activities (+8.2%) and wholesale & retail trade (+5.9%).
"The sectors which showed the largest decrease in activity since February 2020 were other service activities (-11.9%), accommodation & food service activities (-11.6%), transportation & storage (-11.1%) and administrative & support service activities (-10.8%)."
(Pic: Getty Images)
