The turnover of companies in the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector reached 106,456.5 million euros in 2020, which represents a decrease of 1.5% compared to the last year.
However, the number of companies in the ICT sector increased by 4.8% to 72,857. The number of employees, for its part, increased by 3.8% to 547,805 people.
This is reflected in the Indicators of the information and communication technologies sector for the year 2020 published this Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), which indicate that the number of companies in the ICT sector having carried out R&D increased by 8.3% and stood at 1,925, or 17.2% of all companies carrying out this type of activity.
In addition, the document points out that the trade deficit of companies in the ICT sector has been reduced by 1.9%; and the largest import volume of ICT products was telecommunications and computer equipment.
INE indicators reveal that the wage cost per worker in the ICT sector amounted to 2,558 euros per month in the fourth quarter of 2020; the wage cost of the manufacturing industry was 2,916.2 euros; and that of ICT services of 2,551.5 euros.
With regard to hourly wage costs, the highest were recorded in Telecommunications (24.5 euros), Programming, consulting and other IT-related activities (22.4 euros) and Publishing (21.3 euros ).
Regarding companies in the ICT sector that have carried out e-commerce, the INE indicates that 51.7% of companies with ten or more employees in the sector made purchases through e-commerce in 2020, compared to 32.3% of the entire business sector. In contrast, 27.1% made sales through e-commerce, compared to 26.9% of all business.
Companies in the ICT sector achieved e-commerce sales worth €15,428.1 million, representing 5.6% of total e-commerce sales. Regarding purchases, companies in the ICT sector spent 11,752.6 million on e-commerce, or 5.3% of total purchases.
According to the Industrial Products Survey, the value of ICT goods production was €2,910.9 million in 2020, down 7.6% from the previous year. By product group, computer hardware recorded the largest decline, down 20.3%.
In 2020, the indicators indicate that the value of the production of ICT goods represented 0.8% of the total value of industrial production.
With reference to foreign trade in ICT products, the document points out that the trade balance of ICT products showed a negative balance of 13,559.3 million euros in 2020, with a decrease in the trade deficit of 1.9% compared to the ‘last year. Total exports amounted to 5,676.2 million euros, while imports reached 19,235.5 million.
The exports of the ICT sector represent 2.2% of the Spanish exports, a 0.2% more than in 2019. For this part, the imports significaron el 6.9% of the national imports, frente al 6.1% del previous year.