In 2017, the value of Services provided grew by 9.0% (5.3% in 2016), having totalled EUR 15.2 billion. The Business Services generated a Gross Value Added (GVA) of EUR 8.7 billion (+9.4% compared with the previous year), representing 9.5% of GVA of all non-financial enterprises, while the Gross Operating Surplus (GOS) increased by 8.3% (11.0% in 2016), amounting to EUR 2.5 billion. These results were due to the activity of 115 266 enterprises (+2.0% vis-à-vis 2016), who were responsible for the employment of 392 151 people (+5.6% than in the previous year).
The activities of Accountability, auditing and consulting and Computing, the most representative in the Business Services, showed, once again, an incrementing in the value of the services provided at EUR 412.8 million (+10.7%) and EUR 369.6 million (+10.1%), respectively, vis-à-vis 2016. Those increases corresponded to 62.5% of the growth in the total value of services provided. With regard to employment, following the trend of 2016, the sector of the Employment related activities, in particular the services of temporary employment undertakings representing about 77% of the total sector, recorded the largest contribution to growth in the number of persons employed in 2017 (+7.8%), corresponding to more 8 659 workers.
The activity of Consulting services in business management was, like in the previous year, the most relevant activity in all the sectors of the Business Services, representing 17.9% of the total number of services provided, which corresponded to EUR 2.7 billion (+11.5% than in the previous year). Computer consultancy, as well as the Services of temporary employment undertakings were also worthy of highlight by the positive in 2017, having registered both an increase of approximately EUR 140 million in the value of the services provided, representing respectively, 10.4% (+0.1 percentage points) and 8.3% (+0.3 percentage points) of the total Business Services.