Short-term statistics on services for the euro area

This paper reviews the current state and identifies priorities for the development of short-term statistics in the service sector for the euro area. The service sector covers 70% of the euro area and EU economy, but statistical information at monthly or quarterly frequency is rare, with the exception of information on retail trade. More data will become available from some EU regulations in the course of the next few years, but, in particular, economic activity and prices are not sufficiently covered yet. As part of the 5th Progress Report of the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) on European Monetary Union (EMU) statistics, the Statistical Programme Committee (SPC) and the Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMFB) jointly proposed steps to improve service statistics. The proposed priorities for improvements of short-term statistics therefore include new indicators (output, output prices and employment), improvements in coverage particularly in the market sector, and better timeliness for some indicators. The new draft EU Regulation concerning short-term statistics addresses several of these issues and is therefore welcomed by the European Central Bank (ECB). For its implementation a co-ordination approach at European level is highly desirable in order to avoid delays in the release of statistics for the euro area as a whole.