Services Producer Prices were on average 4.3% higher in Quarter 1 (Q1) 2024 when compared with the same period in 2023 (See Table 1 & Figure 1).
The most notable changes in the 12 months to Q1 2024 were: Employment & Human Resource Activities (+10.4%), Architecture & Engineering (+10.2%), and Advertising & Other Professional Activities (+8.3%) (See Table 2b & Figure 2).
Services Producer Prices rose by 1.3% in the quarter, which compares with a 0.8% increase recorded in Q4 2023 (See Table 1).
The most notable quarterly price changes were: Advertising & Other Professional Activities (+4.3%), Warehousing & Transportation Support (+2.9%), and Legal, Accounting, Public Relations & Business Management Consultancy (-2.4%) (See Table 2b).
The Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) was previously based on a limited sample of services covering a select range of services sectors. This resulted in high volatility. To meet this challenge and increased regulatory requirements, as of Q1 2024, the coverage of SPPI has been expanded to cover all the traded services sectors, excluding Wholesale and Retail Trade. The methodology has been revised, and the series has also been rebased to 2021=100. The SPPI will no longer include a table on Contributions to Annual Change in order to increase the number of published subindices.
As the SPPI further expands the number of product prices for services, its volatility will reduce (i.e. fewer large changes in the values of the indices) and it will become more representative of the wider sector. The Services Producer Prices Redevelopment - Information Page has more information.
Figure 1 presents the annual change for the Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) from Q1 2022 through to Q1 2024.
| Period | Annual % change |
|---|---|
| Q1 2022 | 3.7 |
| Q2 2022 | 5.1 |
| Q3 2022 | 4.3 |
| Q4 2022 | 2.3 |
| Q1 2023 | 3.4 |
| Q2 2023 | 3.1 |
| Q3 2023 | 2.5 |
| Q4 2023 | 4.9 |
| Q1 2024 | 4.3 |
Figure 2 shows the annual price changes for several NACE sectors in Q1 2024.
| X-axis label | Annual % change |
|---|---|
| Transport | 6.2 |
| Warehousing & Transportation Support | 2.9 |
| Postal & Courier | 4.4 |
| Hospitality | 6.2 |
| Information & Communication | 2.4 |
| Legal, Accounting, Public Relations & Business Management Consultancy | -0.1 |
| Architecture & Engineering | 10.2 |
| Advertising & Other Professional Activities | 8.3 |
| Employment & Human Resource Activities | 10.4 |
| Security & Building | 7.2 |
| X-axis label | Annual % change |
|---|---|
| Freight and Removal by Road | 10.1 |
| Sea and Coastal Transport | 23.1 |
| Air Transport | 24.8 |
| Warehousing, Storage and Cargo Handling | 17 |
| Postal and Courier | 16.4 |
| Computer Programming and Consultancy | 0.7 |
| Legal, Accounting, PR and Business Consultancy | 3 |
| Architecture, Engineering and Technical Testing | -0.5 |
| Advertising, Media Rep. and Market Research | 0 |
| Employment and Human Resource Activities | 7.2 |
| Security and Investigation | 8.9 |
| Industrial and Building Cleaning | 4.8 |
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (14 June 2024) released Services Producer Price Index Quarter 1 (Q1) 2024.
The Services Producer Price Index (SPPI) is a business cycle indicator which provides information on the development of prices for numerous service industries. This information is used for the analysis of inflation and its sources, but also for the deflation of value measures in the service sector (See Background Notes).
Commenting on the release, Diarmuid Martin, Statistician in the Prices Division, said: "Services Prices charged to businesses in January, February, and March (Q1) 2024 were on average 4.3% higher when compared with the same quarter in 2023 (See Table 1 & Figure 1). In comparison, an annual percentage change of 4.9% was recorded in Q4 2023 (See Table 1).
An increase of Employment & Human Resource Activities (+10.4 percentage points) coincided with growth in a range of services industries including Architecture & Engineering (+10.2 percentage points) and Advertising & Other Professional Activities (+8.3 percentage points). Only the Legal, Accounting, Public Relations & Business Management Consultancy sector underwent a decrease (-0.1 percentage points) when compared with the same quarter in 2023.
Due to a break in the series caused by methodological changes as part of the rebase and the expansion of the service prices covered (See Editors Note below), the Travel & Office Admin, and Real Estate & Rental sectors are showing abnormally high annual changes (See Table 2b).
The CSO has today released details of the new Services Producer Price Index Series with the base period 2021=100. Usually, the SPPI is rebased every 5 years, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the new base year was shifted from 2020 to 2021. The Q1 2024 SPPI figures are the first to be published using this new base period, as will all future SPPI figures until the next rebase occurs."