The turnover of digital services companies accumulated growth of 10% year-on-year in the first eight months of 2024, according to the latest ICT Monitor report from the Vass Foundation, although job creation slows down.
Discounting the effect of prices, the real growth of the business is 6.7% between January and August.
Revenue grew by 11% year-on-year in Augustrecovering from the brake recorded in the June report.
The perception of the evolution of the business until the end of the year, although somewhat less optimistic than in the previous installment, remains positive, standing at +32.8 points (in a range of -100 to +100), above the EU record (+22.2 points). This suggests that 66.4% of companies expect to increase their turnover until December.
In terms of job creation, hiring continues to increase, with almost 3,000 more affiliates in September (totaling 484,809, 26,267 more in the last twelve months), although the slowdown is evident. The interannual pace of hiring (from August 2024 to August 2023) drops to 2.7%, the lowest level since March 2021. The average for the first eight months of the year stands at 3.8%, two points percentages less than in 2023 (5.8%). Therefore, jobs continue to be created, but at a slower rate.
“This situation occurs in a climate of general caution. High interest rates, geopolitical uncertainty and technological changes, with AI as the protagonist, have slowed down new incorporations in the sector, which had grown three times more than the rest of the economy during the last decade. Despite this, digital services companies continue to be one of the main job generators, occupying fifth place in importance at the national level,” the study indicates.
According to the employment climate indicator, which collects the opinion of business owners consulted by the European Commission in September 2024, there is a balance between companies that hope to increase their workforce and those that anticipate adjustments. However, the indicator has fallen from +26.2 points to +2.0, placing it below the EU average, which is +11.7.
For Antonio Rueda, director of the VASS Foundation and head of the TIC Monitor, “companies continue to grow in activity, but they seem to have focused on making their operations more efficient until the end of the year, with more moderate job creation forecasts. However, the The synchronization of billing and employment results in a billing ratio per employee that grows by 5.7% during the last twelve months. The digital services sector clearly aims to overcome the barrier of 500,000 affiliates in 2025.
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