[Economy] The economy rebounded in the second quarter with an increase in GDP of 2.8%

[DeepPurple]

The Spanish economy grew by 2.8% in the second quarter, which represents a rebound compared to the fall of the first quarter of four tenths, thanks to the lifting of restrictions to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the advance in national accounting published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), national demand added 3.6 points to the increase in GDP, mainly due to household consumption, as investment deepened its decline. This contribution offset the negative contribution of 0.8 points from foreign demand (exports and imports).

However, the INE explains that for this advance 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 greater magnitude than usual.
In detail, 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 fall in capital goods and machinery, to 1.7%, and investment in housing and construction, which continued to decline, 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.

Historical growth
In year-on-year rate, the rebound from April to June is historic with almost a 20% increase (19.8) compared to the second quarter of 2020, marked by confinement, the state of alarm and the suspension of all economic activities essential for two weeks. From January to March, the interannual GDP had fallen by 4.2%.
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.

Growth has been driven by the end in spring of mobility restrictions within Spanish territory, the recovery of tourism and the intense pace of the vaccination campaign.

Improve employment
Employment, 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 the average day.

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.

All sectors of activity increased, except agriculture (-1.2%), and the advances in commerce, transport and hospitality (52.1%), the manufacturing industry (31.9%) and artistic and recreational activities stood out. and other services (31.3%).

Employment measured in hours worked grew in all economic sectors, with the greatest intensity in construction (44.9%) and services (34.5%).

The economic vice president, Nadia Calviño, has ensured that this week's indicators "confirm that a strong economic recovery is underway accompanied by a good rate of job creation." In a video, she is confident that the recovery will be full in 2022 thanks to vaccination and government measures and hopes that the exit from the crisis "will leave no one behind."

https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20210730/economia-repunta-segundo-trimestre-avance-del-pib-del-28/2143602.shtml