In nominal terms, the industry turnover index showed a year-on-year reduction of 8.7% in March (a variation of -2.7% in the previous month). The indices for the domestic and non-domestic markets dropped 5.0% and 13.7% (drops of 2.8% and 2.7% in February), respectively. In the 1st quarter of 2020, the year-on-year change in industrial sales stood at -3.7% (0.3% in the previous quarter).
Employment and hours worked indices declined 1.0% and 4.5% (decreases of 0.7% and 0.5% in February, in the same order), while wages and salaries rose 2.9% (3.8% in February).
The information in this press release, referring March 2020, reflects probably the situation determined by the pandemic COVID-19, either in economic behavior either in the amount of data for compilation of results presented. We call for the best collaboration by firms, households and public entities in answering, despite the present difficulties, to Statistics Portugal. The quality of official statistics depends crucially on this collaboration, which INE thanks in advance.