Small and medium-sized businesses they paid up to 26.8% more in operating costs in the third quarter than in the same quarter of 2020. Thus, the four consecutive quarters of interannual decline that were previously recorded came to an end. In this way, operating costs – which take into account expenses in the acquisition of materials and labor – had increased for two quarters, registering an increase, although moderate (0.4% more in the third quarter). All in all, the rebound allows us to glimpse some stability, although at levels almost four times higher than those recorded during the pre-pandemic stage.
Emphasizing that the situation could be improved, is more favorable in medium-sized companies than in small onessince, although the increase in operating costs at a general level was 0.4%, in firms with a smaller number of workers it amounted to 0.6%, while in medium-sized companies it was only 0.02%. And the fact is that small companies have been more affected than medium-sized companies for years by the increase in costs, since since the accumulated reduction that was registered in the third quarter of 2022, which for the whole represented a decrease of 1.4 %, for the smallest companies it only represented 0.5%, while for the medium-sized ones it was 3.3%, 2.8 points more.
Service costs
The average price of the services used by SMEs already registered increases of between 1.5 and 2.2%, an evolution in line with what is known as price stability (which takes into account growth of up to 2% annual). In the third quarter, the highest increase was for Security Activities, which rose 3.2%; followed by Postal and postal activities (3.1%) and Employment agencies (2.8%).
Meanwhile, the largest decrease was for the Advertising sector (-1.4%), although a decrease was also recorded in Rental Activities, of 0.1%.
Labor costs
The rise of Minimum Wage and reduction of working hours have put in the spotlight the increase in spending that companies carry out with respect to workers, which, comparing the third quarter of 2023 and 2024, was 4.2%, which represents the smallest variation since June 2021. It should be noted that in the ten years prior to the pandemic, increases in labor costs were 0.3%. On the other hand, this type of costs grew by 18.1% year-on-year, although the increase suffered by small companies was 19.3%, compared to 15.3% for medium-sized companies.
Input cost
Within the prices of inputs there are four types of goods: intermediate (manufacturing and construction), energy (electricity, gas, oil and water), capital goods and consumer goods. The prices of the first two groups recorded a year-on-year decline, while those of equipment and consumption continue to increase, although at a rate that tends to moderate. Even so, The largest year-on-year drop corresponds to energy, which in the third quarter of 2024 registered a decrease of 10.2%seventh consecutive quarter of decrease since the fourth quarter of 2022. Despite the current decreases, prices of all inputs are higher than five years ago. First of all, energy is 68.5% more expensive than in 2019.
The same happens with the price of intermediate products, which registered a reduction of 1.2% year-on-yearalthough they are 27.3% more expensive than in the same period of 2019. Capital goods are 14.3% higher than five years ago and consumer goods are 30.9% higher. Due to the reductions in the last year, the total cost of inputs shows a reduction of 1.8%, although it is 35% higher than in 2019, which means that it rose by an average of 6.2% annually, almost triple of the inflation target stipulated by the ECB, which is, at most, 2%.
LinkedinBeloud
#operating #costs #SMEs #times #higher #Covid
