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Services Sector Price Indices

• 1Contact
  • 1.1Contact organisation
    National Statistics Institute of Spain
    
  • 1.5Contact mail address

    Avenida de Manoteras 50-52 - 28050 Madrid

    
    
• 2Metadata update
  • 2.1Metadata last certified
    14/03/2025
  • 2.2Metadata last posted
    17/06/2024
  • 2.3Metadata last update
    14/03/2025
• 3Statistical presentation
  • 3.1Data description

    The services sector price indices aim to measure the evolution of the prices of services provided to both companies and households, from the supply side, for certain activities in this sector.

  • 3.2Classification system
    • Clasificaciones utilizadas

      The 2009 National Classification of Economic Activities (CNAE-2009) for the branches of activity (up to the 4-digit level) and the Classification of Products by Activities (CPA) for products.

  • 3.3Sector coverage

    The SSPI covers sections H, I, J, L, M (except M701, M72 and M75) and N of the NACE.

    Specifically the following are studied:

    Section H - Transportation and Storage
    49 Land transport and transport via pipelines
    50 Sea transport
       50.1 Sea and coastal passenger water transport
       50.2 Sea and coastal freight water transport
    51 Air transport
       51.1 Passenger air transport
    52 Warehousing and support activities for transportation
       52.1. Warehousing and storage
       52. 2 Activities related to transport
          52. 21 Activities related to land transport (to be published as confidential)
          52.22 Activities related to sea and inland waterway transport (to be published as confidential)
          52. 23 Activities related to air transport (to be published as confidential)
          52.24 Cargo handling
    53 Postal and courier activities
        53B Postal and courier activities
    Section I - Accommodation and Food Service Activities
    55 Accommodation
    56 Food and beverage service activities
    Section J - Information and Communication
    58 Editing
    59 Film and television
    60 Programming and broadcasting
    61 Telecommunications (B2All)
       61B Telecommunications (business services)
       61H Telecommunications (household services)
    62 Computer consultancy and programming
    63 Information service
        63.1 Data processing, hosting and related activities; web portals
        63.9 Other information service activities
    Section L - Real Estate Activities
    68 Real Estate
    Section M - Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities
    69 Legal and accounting activities (B2All)
    70 Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities
    71 Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis
    73 Advertising and market research
        73.1 Advertising
        73.2 Market research
    74 Professional services
    Section N - Administrative and Support Service Activities
    77 Rental services
    78 Employment activities
    79 Travel agencies and tour operators
    80 Investigation and security services
    81 Services to buildings and landscape activities
    81.2 Cleaning activities
    82 Office administrative, office support and other business support activities

     

  • 3.4Statistical concepts and definitions
    • Adjustment due to change in quality
      Estimate of the part of the price difference between the new item (substitute) and the old one (substituted) due to the difference in quality between the two.
    • Aggregate index
      Weighted arithmetic average of basic indices.
    • Basic Index
      Quotient between the average price for the current month and the average price for December of the previous year (multiplied by 100). The indices have no measurement unit and show price variation from the base period until the current month.
    • Basket
      Set of products for which the price is collected monthly.
    • Change in quality
      A change that occurs when a subvariety of the basket is substituted by another with different features, that imply a change in usefulness of the product.
    • Contribution
      The contribution of a product measures how much the general index would change if only the price of the aforementioned product changed (in other words, if the other prices remain constant).
    • Output prices
      It is essential that all price-determining characteristics of the products are taken into account, including quantity of units sold, transport provided, rebates, service conditions, guarantee conditions and destination. The specification must be such that in subsequent reference periods, the observation unit is able uniquely to identify the product and to provide the appropriate price per unit.
      
      The following rules apply for the definition of prices:
      
      - The appropriate price is the basic price that excludes VAT and similar deductible taxes directly linked to turnover as well as all duties and taxes on the goods and services invoiced by the unit, whereas subsidies on products received by the producer, if there are any, should be added.
      - If transport costs are included, this should be part of the product specification,
      - In order to show the true development of price movements, it should be an actual transaction price, and not a list price.
      - The output price index should take into account quality changes in products.
      - The price collected in period t should refer to orders booked during period t (moment of order), not the moment when the commodities leave the factory gates.
      - For output prices of the non-domestic market, the price should be calculated at national frontiers, fob (free on board).
      
      The index should in principle reflect the average price during the reference period. In practice the information actually collected may refer to a particular day in the middle of the reference period that should be determined as a representative figure for the reference period. For products with a significant impact on the national economy that are known to have, at least occasionally, a volatile price development, it is important that the index does indeed reflect average prices.
    • Product or aggregate weight
      The weight of a product or aggregate is the relative importance it has in relation to the rest of products or aggregates in the basket, according to expenditure/income.
    • Service Production Prices
      The prices considered for calculating the SSPI are effective prices for customers who are companies, not including VAT or other, similar deductible taxes, directly linked to turnover, or rights and taxes on services invoiced per unit, and including all reductions or discounts to the purchaser and possible subsidies on products received by the producer.
    • Variation
      This shows the evolution of prices between the time periods.
  • 3.5Statistical unit

    The respondent unit is the company.

    The services sector price index studies the quarterly evolution of the prices of the services provided to companies and households, from the supply side, for the activities covered therein (see section 3.3.), both in the domestic market and abroad.

     

  • 3.6Statistical population

    The target population is the group of companies that provide any of the services covered by the SSPI (see section 3.3)

    .
  • 3.7Reference area

    The geographical scope comprises the whole national territory.

  • 3.8Time coverage

    Survey results, for the activities included in Council Regulation (EC) No 1165/98 concerning short-term statistics, are available since the first quarter of 2007.

    The new activities included in SPPI base 2021 are available since the first quarter of 2021, as indicated in the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197.

  • 3.9Base period

    Base period

    The base period or reference period of the index is 2021 (2021=100).

    Price reference period

    This is the period against which current prices are compared, i.e. the period chosen for the calculation of the elementary indices.

    With the calculation formula used for the SSPI base 2021 – chain-linked Laspeyres – the price reference period varies from year to year and is the last quarter of the year immediately prior to the year considered.

    Reference period for weights

    This is the period to which the data refers and from which the weights that provide the structure of the SSPI are obtained.

    For the current survey, the calculation of the SSPI weights, base 2021, has been made using the data from the "Structural Business Survey: Service Sector" updated with price information to refer them to the last quarter of the year immediately prior to the one considered.

    The weights are updated annually.

• 4Unit of measure
  • 4.1Unit of measure

    - Indices
    The indices are calculated as the ratio between the average price of the current period and the average price of the last period in the previous year (multiplied by 100). In this way, they do not have units.

    - Variations
    All variations are calculated as percentages of variation.

    - Weights
    The weight of a product or aggregate is the corresponding percentage that represents the production value of that product or aggregate over the value of total production. The units used are per thousand.

• 5Reference period
  • 5.1Reference period

    The reference period of the data is the quarter.

    Data referred to the period: Trimestral A: 2024 TRI: IV

• 6Institutional mandate
  • 6.1Legal acts and other agreements

    The compilation and dissemination of the data are governed by the Statistical Law No. 12/1989 "Public Statistical Function" of May 9, 1989, and Law No. 4/1990 of June 29 on “National Budget of State for the year 1990" amended by Law No. 13/1996 "Fiscal, administrative and social measures" of December 30, 1996, makes compulsory all statistics included in the National Statistics Plan. The National Statistical Plan 2009-2012 was approved by the Royal Decree 1663/2008. It contains the statistics that must be developed in the four year period by the State General Administration's services or any other entity dependent on it. All statistics included in the National Statistics Plan are statistics for state purposes and are obligatory. The National Statistics Plan 2025-2028, approved by Royal Decree 1525/2024, of  3 December, is the Plan currently implemented. This statistical operation has governmental purposes, and it is included in the National Statistics Plan 2021-2024. (Statistics of the State Administration).

    
    

    The SSPI is subject to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 27 November 2019, on European business statistics, whose aim is to create a common framework for the production of community statistics, and Regulation (EU) Implementing Regulation 2020/1197, which establishes the technical specifications to comply with the mandate of the Framework Regulation.

    The Spanish version of the European Union standards affecting this statistical operation is accessible from:

    European Regulation of the SSPI

  • 6.2Data sharing
    The exchanges of information needed to elaborate statistics between the INE and the rest of the State statistical offices (Ministerial Departments, independent bodies and administrative bodies depending on the State General Administration), or between these offices and the Autonomic statistical offices, are regulated in the LFEP (Law of the Public Statistic Function). This law also regulates the mechanisms of statistical coordination, and concludes cooperation agreements between the different offices when necessary.
    

    Each quarter, the Ministry of Public Works calculates the price index data for Transport of goods by road .

• 7Confidentiality
  • 7.1Confidentiality - policy

    The Statistical Law No. 12/1989 specifies that the INE cannot publish, or make otherwise available, individual data or statistics that would enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society

    
    
  • 7.2Confidentiality - data treatment
    INE provides information on the protection of confidentiality at all stages of the statistical process: INE questionnaires for the operations in the national statistical plan include a legal clause protecting data under statistical confidentiality. Notices prior to data collection announcing a statistical operation notify respondents that data are subject to statistical confidentiality at all stages. For data processing, INE employees have available the INE data protection handbook, which specifies the steps that should be taken at each stage of processing to ensure reporting units' individual data are protected. The microdata files provided to users are anonymised.
    

    The SSPI does not provide information on the branches that do not have a minimum number of respondents.

• 8Release policy
  • 8.1Release calendar

    The advance release calendar that shows the precise release dates for the coming year is disseminated in the last quarter of each year.

    
    
  • 8.2Release calendar access

    The calendar is disseminated on the INEs Internet website (Publications Calendar)

    
    
  • 8.3User access

    The data are released simultaneously according to the advance release calendar to all interested parties by issuing the press release. At the same time, the data are posted on the INE's Internet website (www.ine.es/en) almost immediately after the press release is issued. Also some predefined tailor-made requests are sent to registered users. Some users could receive partial information under embargo as it is publicly described in the European Statistics Code of Practice

    
    
• 9Frequency of dissemination
  • 9.1Frequency of dissemination

    The SSPI is disseminated quarterly.

• 10Accessibility and clarity
  • 10.1News release

    The results of the statistical operations are normally disseminated by using press releases that can be accessed via both the corresponding menu and the Press Releases Section in the web

    
    
  • 10.2Publications

    Press release, on the day of publication.

    Generic publications such as Anuario Estadistico de España (Spanish Statistical Yearbook) and Cifras INE (INE Figures) contain information related to the SSPI.

  • 10.3On-line database

    INEbase is the system the INE uses to store statistical information on the Internet. It contains all the information the INE produces in electronic formats. The primary organisation of the information follows the theme-based classification of the Inventory of Statistical Operations of the State General Administration . The basic unit of INEbase is the statistical operation, defined as the set of activities that lead to obtaining statistical results on a determined sector or subject based on the individually collected data. Also included in the scope of this definition are synthesis preparation.

    
    

    The online database of the SSPI, which contains information on both the indices and variations, can be found in the section Servicios of INEBase. The online database of the SSPI can be accessed via the following link: https://www.ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/en/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176864&menu=resultados&idp=1254735576778

    In 2024, the number of consultations of data tables is AC1=16505 and the number of consultations of metadata is AC2=4176.

     

     

  • 10.4Micro-data access
    A lot of statistical operations disseminate public domain anonymized files, available free of charge for downloading in the INE website Microdata Section
    

    In the case of SSPI, no microdata information is provided.

  • 10.5Other

    It is possible to request tailored information from the INE Information area. When processing these requests, confidentiality and accuracy limitations are taken into account.

  • 10.6Documentation on methodology

    The methodological documents of the IPS are within the "Services" section of INEBase: Methodology

    The rate of completeness of metadata is AC3=100%.

     

  • 10.7Quality documentation

    Pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 1165/1998, every three years the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the relevance, quality and revision of short-term statistics indicators. The 2021 report can be consulted at the following link:

    https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52021DC0126&from=ES

    Sections 10.7 to 17 of this document are the user-oriented quality report for this operation.

• 11Quality management
  • 11.1Quality assurance

    Quality assurance framework for the INE statistics is based on the ESSCoP, the European Statistics Code of Practice made by EUROSTAT. The ESSCoP is made up of 16 principles, gathered in three areas: Institutional Environment, Processes and Products. Each principle is associated with some indicators which make possible to measure it. In order to evaluate quality, EUROSTAT provides different tools: the indicators mentioned above, Self-assessment based on the DESAP model, peer review, user satisfaction surveys and other proceedings for evaluation.

    
    

    The Service Sector Price Indices feature a process designed to control and validate data throughout the process. There are validation controls in the electronic questionnaire, a data checking process at the collection units and a control from the promoter unit to guarantee the quality of the statistics.

    Additionally, the SSPI is an indicator of high statistical quality, which meets all the criteria for consistency, comparability, accuracy and timeliness. Its methodology follows the recommendations contained in the internationally agreed manuals:

    - "Producer Price Index Manual: Theory and Practice", published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    - "Methodological guide for developing producer price indices for services", published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

  • 11.2Quality assessment

    The entry into force of base 2010, in the first quarter of 2013, meant a methodological improvement, as since then the SSPI is calculated using chain-linked indices, instead of fixed base indices. This allows modifications to be made to the sample every year, as well as updating the weights, which ensures that the indices are more dynamic and better adapted to the evolution of the markets.

    The SSPI, base 2021 improves the coverage of this indicator by including new activities from the service sector that were not included in the previous Regulation, as well as calculating a overall index for the service sector.

    Furthermore, as it is a statistic included in Council Regulation (EC) No 1165/1998, the methodologies for calculating the indices of each activity are harmonised across all countries, using the methods recommended in the Methodological guide for developing producer price indices for services, published by the OECD and Eurostat.

    .

• 12Relevance
  • 12.1User needs

    The main users of the SSPI are:

    - Ministries and other public agencies.

    - Territorial administrations ( Autonomous Communities, City Councils, etc.).

    - Companies and institutions.

    - Economic analysts and universities.

    - Individuals.

    The applications of the SSPI notably include:

    - Direct use as an indicator for the short-term analysis of the economic activity of the service sector.

    - Indirect use as a deflator, to convert data at current prices into data at constant prices, in the service sector activity statistics and national accounting.

  • 12.2User satisfaction

    The INE has carried out general user satisfaction surveys in 2007, 2010, 2013,  2016 and 2019 and it plans to continue doing so every three years. The purpose of these surveys is to find out what users think about the quality of the information of the INE statistics and the extent to which their needs of information are covered. In addition, additional surveys are carried out in order to acknowledge better other fields such as dissemination of the information, quality of some publications...

    On the INE website, in its section Methods and Projects / Quality and Code of Practice / INE quality management / User surveys are available surveys conducted to date.(Click  next link)

     

    
    

    The specific needs of users are taken into account whenever methodological revisions of the survey are carried out, in order to adapt the content of the survey to the specific requirements of its users, thereby increasing their levels of satisfaction.

    Periodically meetings are held with the professional associations of the sectors included in the indices, in which they inform us of their information needs. When there are no confidentiality issues, and at the request of the users, the indices are published at a more disaggregated level than that which is usually published.

  • 12.3Completeness

    Indices are prepared using a disaggregation of two digits of the NACE 2009, in NACE Sections H, I, J, L, M (except M701, M72, and M75) and N. In some of them, three disaggregation digits are reached.

    The obligatory statistical results availability rate for the SSPI, base 2021, is R1=100%.

    .

• 13Accuracy and reliability
  • 13.1Overall accuracy

    The sample is designed using the cut-off procedure, which means that there are no sampling errors.

    In terms of non-sampling errors, the different survey processes are aimed at eliminating or reducing these errors as much as possible, both in the collection phase (response rate and data checking) and in subsequent editing and imputing phases.

  • 13.2Sampling error

    Sampling errors are not calculated for SSPI since the sample is based on non-probability methods (cut-off procedure).

  • 13.3Non-sampling error

    The Service Price Indices have a very high response rate, around 90% in most activities.

    To correct non-sampling errors, such as non-response or changes in the characteristics of a company's services, estimates and quality adjustments are made.

    Data estimates are made depending on the sector to which they pertain. In most cases, the same variation is applied to the price from the previous period as the rest of the prices of the same product. When the non-response is partial, it is also possible to apply the variation of the rest of the services offered by the company providing the service without data.

    In 2024, the non-response rate corresponding to the year average is A4=10.90%, the item non-response rate is A5=9.4%, the rate of over-coverage is A2=7.35% and the imputation rate is A7=12.9%.

• 14Timeliness and punctuality
  • 14.1Timeliness

    According to that established in the Regulation, the transmission period for Eurostat data is 90 days after the end of the reference period.

    This objective is met, as the SSPI results are published approximately 77 days after the end of the reference quarter. Therefore, TP1 (delay in first results)=77 days and TP2 (delay in definitive results)=1 year and 77 days.

  • 14.2Punctuality

    The survey results are published according to INE's short-term statistics publication calendar (https://www.ine.es/en/daco/daco41/calen_en.htm)

    All SSPI publications were published on the date announced in the publication calendar.

• 15Coherence and Comparability
  • 15.1Comparability - geographical

    The SSPI data is not disaggregated by Autonomous Community.

    In addition, to compare the SSPI with European Union countries, the STS Regulation and the methodological guidelines applied by the countries ensure good comparability between national data and European aggregates.

    However, the data is not 100% comparable between one country and another, as the collection methods (surveys can be carried out or administrative sources can be used) and the procedures for calculating the indices (fixed base Laspeyres, chain-linked Laspeyres, etc.) are not harmonised in this regulation.

  • 15.2Comparability - over time

    For the activities included in Council Regulation (EC) No 1165/98, the series are available from the first quarter of 2007 in the National Classification of Economic Activities 2009 (CNAE-2009), in accordance with Royal Decree 475/2007 of 13 April 2007. Due to the methodological continuity applied since the implementation of the survey, the time series can be compared from the beginning. A series of CC2=72 elements is available until 2024.

    The new series included in the SPPI base 2021 are available since the first quarter of 2021, as indicated in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197.

    In addition, for the following activities: Maritime transport of goods, Regular passenger air transport, Postal and courier activities, Telecommunications and Computer activities, the series are available in the CNAE-93 from the first quarter of 2007 to the fourth quarter of 2008 (a series of 8 elements).

  • 15.3Coherence - cross domain

    Data from other sources can be used to compare the results offered by a service sector activity. For example, the landline and mobile telephone price indices obtained by the Telecommunications Market Commission (CMT) can be compared with the Telecommunications Sector Price Index.

    It is also possible to compare the data of some SSPI activities with the similar ones collected in the CPI, however, they do not have to give the same results, since they are statistics with a different nature and methodology. The SSPI is a price index from a supply point of view, while the CPI is a price index from a demand point of view.

  • 15.4Coherence - internal

    The SSPIs are internally consistent. Aggregations are made from the lowest level of information to the highest.

• 16Cost and burden
  • 16.1Cost and burden

    The estimated budgetary appropriation necessary to finance these statistics planned in the 2025 annual Programme amounts to 344.42 thousand euros.

    During the sample modifications, the statistical burden on respondents is taken into account so as to avoid an excessive amount of time spent on completion. Meetings have been held with professional associations in most of the sectors covered by the indices, in order to adapt the questionnaires to the information available in the companies in order to facilitate its completion as far as possible.

• 17Data revision
  • 17.1Data revision - policy

    The INE of Spain has a policy which regulates the basic aspects of statistical data revision, seeking to ensure process transparency and product quality. This policy is laid out in the document approved by the INE board of directors on 13 March of 2015, which is available on the INE website, in the section "Methods and projects/Quality and Code of Practice/INE’s Quality management/INE’s Revision policy" (link).

    This general policy sets the criteria that the different type of revisions should follow:  routine revision- it is the case of statistics whose production process includes regular revisions-; more extensive revision- when methodological or basic reference source changes take place-; and exceptional revision- for instance, when an error appears in a published statistic-.

    
    

    The SSPI results can be reviewed within one year of publication.

  • 17.2Data revision - practice

    Any differences that may occur between the provisional and definitive data are due to the unavailability of data in the provisional publication, due to late receipt of the questionnaire.

    To measure the degree of variation between the provisional and definitive results, the changes occurring between the first and the definitive publication were analysed for a 20 quarter period between the first quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2024, obtaining:

    - For the annual rate of the general index:
    MAR=0.20
    RMAR=8.16%
    MR=0.09

• 18Statistical processing
  • 18.1Source data

    The data used to compile the SSPI is obtained through a company survey. The framework of the survey is all companies, based in Spain, that produce services in the activities included in the index scope.

    For each activity, the selection of the units that form part of the sample is carried out in such a way as to cover between 60% and 70% of the turnover of said activity (according to data from the Structural Business Statistics, referring to the year 2021).

    In the SSPI, base 2021, approximately 8,500 prices of 151 products are collected each quarter in a sample of close to 1,400 companies.

  • 18.2Frequency of data collection

    Prices are collected once a quarter for most activities and refer to the average price for the quarter.

  • 18.3Data collection

    The collection of prices for the SSPI is carried out by means of a questionnaire to the companies that form part of the sample. Questionnaires are completed by e-mail, fax, telephone or post.

    When base 2010 began, the questionnaires were completed using the Internet information collection application -IRIA-.

    The questionnaire shows the products for which the company must provide the price, with a detailed description of their features, which allows the company to identify the exact product.

  • 18.4Data validation

    The collection unit checks that all the information requested in the questionnaire is completed and that any issues related to companies, products and prices are properly justified and commented. This is followed by a centralised data cleaning, in order to detect possible errors or unjustified price variations.

  • 18.5Data compilation

    - Data checking

    As a general rule, for any anomaly detected in the products or their prices during the validation process, the respondent is contacted again for justification or correction, in case the characteristics or the unit of measure of the product have changed.

    - Calculation of indices

    Firstly, the elementary indices of a product in a company are calculated, as the ratio of the price collected in the current quarter to the price collected in the last quarter of the previous year. In case the company provides more than one price for a product, a geometric mean is calculated for them.

    Subsequently, basic indices are aggregated using a weighted arithmetic mean.

    - Weights

    The main sources of SSPI weights are the Structural Business Survey and the SSPI itself.

    - Dealing with the occasional lack of price

    When the product price is occasionally not stated, the company is contacted to see if it can estimate the price that the transaction would have cost.

    If this is not possible, its price is estimated from the variations of the remaining prices for that product or its corresponding branch.

    - Dealing with product substitutions

    When the characteristics of a product disappear or change, the respondent is contacted to find out the temporary or definitive nature of this incidence, and if the disappearance is definitive, an attempt is made to replace it with another.

    If the company does not have a substitute for the product, an attempt is made to find another product that can provide this information.

    - Adjustments for quality change in the SSPI

    When there is a change in the characteristics that define one product or it disappears and is replaced by another, an adjustment must be made to determine which part of the price difference between the two products is due to a difference in quality between them.

    In general terms, the imputed prices are used to make this adjustment. This method consists of imputing the average price variation of an aggregate that is higher than the one to which the product belongs.

  • 18.6Adjustment

    No seasonal adjustment is applied.

• 19Comment
  • 19.1Comment