September of increase in workers and also in unemployed, a common contrast in this month of the year due to the start of the education course and the closure of the tourist season in many areas of the country. Employment increased, although with a somewhat more moderate increase, by almost 18,300 people, the lowest figure since 2019. As for unemployment, it increased by 19,768 people, a record similar to last year and which leaves the total number of unemployed registered to SEPE in 2,722,468 people, minimum levels since 2008.
The monthly increase in employment, of 0.09%, left the total number of people working at 20,724,796, after having reached this year the level of 20.9 million workers affiliated with Social Security and 21 million workers according to the EPA.
If the seasonally adjusted data is taken, which is preferred by the Ministry of Social Security to measure the evolution of employment and which marginalizes seasonal effects, employment grew by 12,921 people, a figure lower than that of August (17,745) and which is moderating in the recent months compared to the beginning of 2023 that registered an intense employment boom. In March, the labor market added 151,000 workers, the highest figure of the year.
The current context continues to be one of economic growth, with Spain as the European economy with the greatest strength this year and next, but also of deceleration and facing difficulties such as the increase in interest rates and still high inflation.
The rate of year-on-year employment still maintains the figure at 2.7%, a still high figure that represents the incorporation of more than half a million workers in the last year (544,508), but which loses a few tenths compared to recent months. .
Employment increased in September mainly thanks to the increase in education, of 9.5% and which represented an incorporation of 85,800 workers, stronger than last year, of 7.16%. Employment in administrative activities and auxiliary services also grows (+19,700 workers, +1.4%).
Other “high added value” professions are also growing, as the Ministry of Social Security usually highlights, such as computing and telecommunications and scientific and technical activities, +5,320 and +7,439, but with less powerful booms than last year.
On the other hand, and as usual in September, employment linked to tourist activities was destroyed, especially in hospitality, -32,223 workers (-2%) and commerce, -40,024 affiliated people (-1.5%) in the General Regime, in which the vast majority of workers are located.
This year, in addition, the figures are marked by an intense destruction of public employment, in the field of “Public Administration, Defense and Social Security”, which has lost 39,500 workers (-3%), a figure that is not common in this month. To give some reference, last year the loss was 17,700 people and the previous year almost 16,000.
The Secretary of State for Social Security, Borja Suárez, has explained that this greater drop is due to the fact that they have adjusted some jobs that appeared “erroneously” in the Public Administrations heading and have been located in the Education sector, which is why which this activity has also increased more than usual.
The Ministry of Social Security assesses the data for the first nine months of the year as a whole, with a rise in total employment of 495,017 people – in seasonally adjusted terms –, which exceeds “the whole of 2022” and represents one of the highest figures. in this period of the historical series, discounting 2005 (due to the extraordinary regularization) and 2021 (year of recovery after the pandemic).
José Luis Escrivá’s department also highlights that Spain is creating more jobs than other EU countries and, in addition, improving their quality after the labor reform. “In September, the percentage of affiliates with a temporary contract stands at 14%”, a figure much lower than that existing before the norm.
2.7 million people unemployed
Unemployment increased by 19,768 (0.73%) compared to the previous month, “following the usual growth trend although moderating the increases that characterize this month,” according to the Ministry of Labor.
Yolanda Díaz’s department highlights that, “in seasonally adjusted terms, registered unemployment fell by 3,736 people in the month of September.”
In total, the number of unemployed stands at 2,722,468 people, lowest levels since 2008, in the early stages of the Great Recession. If we look back at the last 12 months, unemployment has decreased by 219,451 people (-7.46%) in the last year.
By sectors, registered unemployment decreased in the Construction sector by 3,718 people (-1.74%), Agriculture by 2,100 people (-2.06%) and Industry by 184 people (-0.09%). On the other hand, it increased in Services by 18,820 people (0.98%) and also in the group Without Previous Employment by 6,950 people (2.85%).
At the territorial level, unemployment increased especially in Asturias (+3.5%, 1,900 people), in Extremadura (+3.4%, 2,637 people) and in Andalusia (+2.9%, 15,949 people). On the other hand, it decreased in La Rioja (-4.88%, 650 people), in Euskadi (1.8%, -1,900 people) and in the Canary Islands (-1.6%, -2,830 people).
Source: www.eldiario.es
