The turnover (EUR 123.2 billion) of the 220.7 thousand enterprises within the Trade sector in Portugal increased 3.0% in 2015, above +2.4% in 2014. The commercial margin (1) raised 4.1% (+4.6% in 2014) and amounted to EUR 21.7 billion, the equivalent to EUR 98.4 thousand per enterprise (+4.6% in view of the preceding year). The employment in this sector recovered from the reduction of 0.6% in 2014, increasing 1.9% in 2015 and totaling 732.5 thousand employees. The respective salaries grew by 3.8% (+1.5% in 2014).
The Trade sector, in relation to the non financial business sector, corresponded to 37.3% of the total turnover, 19.6% of the gross value added and 20.7% of the employment.
Considering the subsectors, the turnover of the Trade sector was distributed as follows: wholesale trade 50.3%, retail trade 36.4% and automotive trade and maintenance 13.4%. By the same order, the employment distribution was the following: 30.3%, 57.3% and 12.3%.
In 2015, there were 3 348 large sized commercial units in Portugal, of which 51.4% mainly dedicated mainly to food retail trade and the remaining were non-food retail trade units. The turnover of these units increased by 1.9% having reached EUR 16.5 billion.