The economic climate

GDP in real terms grew by 2018% in 2.6, almost half a point less than the previous year. The trend in the year, in year-on-year terms, was downward following the relatively stable growth observed in 2017. Total employment, measured according to the number of full-time equivalent employed persons, followed a similar path, although with a small upturn at the end of the year, and closed 2018 with an increase of 2.5% compared to 2.9% in 2017. The deceleration of activity is basically explained by the evolution of external demand, which fell by four tenths to growth.

The economic indicators that are constructed from the information declared to the Tax Agency by taxpayers are abundant in the previous diagnosis. Sales of Large Non-Financial Companies corrected by calendar and deflated, grew by 2018% in 3, seven tenths less than in 2017. In the first quarter of 2018, growth was maintained close to the end of the previous year, but from the second quarter the deceleration was accentuated. Domestic sales also showed moderation, although less intense, and it was in sales abroad where the deceleration was most noticeable: In the first half of the year, growth grew relatively stable at around 5%, while in the second half of the year growth fell by close to 2 points.

Another indicator of tax origin is the number of recipients of earned income in Large Companies, which is approaching the evolution of salaried employment. In 2018, it grew by 3.1%, half a point below the estimated increase for 2017, continuing with the decreasing trajectory that this variable has been following since . 2017 

Social Security affiliates also increased below the previous figure (3.1% in 2018 and 3.6% in 2017) and with a profile consistent with the other real indicators: Slight deceleration at the beginning of the year and deeper as the latter progressed.

For the analysis of income, the variables to be taken into account are nominal, which include the effect of prices. In 2018 these grew at a similar pace to that of 2017. In general, all indicators showed growth close to those of the previous year, particularly those related to consumption. This is the case of the deflator of household spending (1.6% in 2018, the same as in 2017) and CPI, both in the general index (1.7% and 2%, respectively) and in the index, calculated without unprocessed foods or energy products, which grew by two tenths less than in 2017. As in 2017, prices were impacted by the performance of energy products. In 2017, these prices recovered in the first half of the year to relax later; In 2018, however, the increases were concentrated in the second half of the year. On an annual average, the rise in the two years was, as in the rest of the indicators, approximately the same.

The macroeconomic aggregates most closely related to income performance are domestic demand at current prices and wage earners.  Domestic demand grew by 4.5% in 2018, with a deceleration of two tenths compared to 2017, slightly lower than the GDP shown. For its part, the remuneration of employees increased by six tenths more than in 2017, to 4.1%. In a more moderate growth environment of employment, the increase in remuneration is explained by the increase in average wages, which after years of stagnation, he began to rally at the end of 2017 and in 2018 it was consolidated, especially after the rise in public salaries approved in the middle of the year, together with the Budgets.