Retail sales rise higher in Catalonia than in Spain as a whole; debate over commercial model in full swing
New jobs in Catalan retail doubled that in the whole of Spain. Madrid, the most liberalized community, is also the one that has lost the most jobs
The figures once again endorse the Catalan retail model, in the midst of a controversy surrounding the umpteenth offensive by the Spanish government against Catalan retail laws. In October, Catalan shopkeepers’ revenue was up 2.8% year over year. This is an advantage of 0.7 per cent with respect to the increase in sales experienced by retailers in the whole of Spain (including Catalonia), which was 2.1% according to data published on Friday by Spain’s National Institute for Statistics (INE).
These new figures show that for the last seven months Catalan retail sales have improved more than Spain’s year over year, as the chart shows. Regions such as Madrid, on the other hand, which have a far-reaching liberalizing retail legislation in line with what the Spanish government wants to impose, have struggled to maintain sales, and in October grew their sales at a rate below the Spain-wide average, with a 1.3% growth
The comparison in terms of employment is even more favorable to Catalonia. In this case, while in the whole of Spain the sales workforce grew by 0.8% inter-annually, in Catalonia the increase was more than double, at 1.7%. This was the second highest rate among the autonomous regions, only behind the Balearic Islands, which also saw the highest sales, with a strong 6.7%. Once again, in this case the Community of Madrid grew below average. Instead of creating jobs, unemployment in the Madrid region grew at an inter-annual rate of 0.7%, and Madrid was the region whose workforce shrank the most, according to the INE data.
The data, therefore, support the position of the Catalan Govern and small business owner associations, who argue that Catalonia’s more protectionist retail legislation is more effective for boosting the sector-- although it’s not possible to identify which part of the increase in sales is due to the model, and which to an increase in consumer spending caused by other factors. Either way, it is a new argument for the Catalan government in the ongoing war with its Spanish counterpart over this topic.
This is especially true after last week, when the government of Mariano Rajoy announced an appeal to the Constitutional Court against the Catalan law regulating store hours, an appeal that, in all probability given the precedents in this area, will end up in a suspension of the law. This will, in turn, add uncertainty to local ordinances that are already confusing, with a half-dozen legal changes in the last three years.
On Wednesday, the Catalan government and the majority of business associations agreed to turn a deaf ear to the challenges and counter-challenges coming from Madrid, and to maintain loyalty to the Catalan regulations. The legal uncertainty, however, as reported in ARA, has already provoked a slow stream of openings outside of the normal --according to Catalan law-- opening hours in cities such as Barcelona, by businesses that consider the liberalized legal framework more appropriate. The new challenge --and the lack of penalties by the Generalitat-- will quite probably give these businesses more room to maneuver.
