The end of the holidays in Spain usually brings with it an increase in unemployment and job losses. It is the end of the busiest season for the tourism sector in our country and this year has been no different, although the monthly increase in the number of unemployed registered with the SEPE stood at 21,884 people, the lowest increase in this month since 2016 and the exception of 2021, a year greatly altered by the rebound in employment after the worst of the pandemic.
“Normally it rose by around 40,000 people and this time it has risen by around 20,000. Why? Because we have a more resilient, more stable labour market, which thanks to the labour reform has less of a seasonal effect,” stressed the Secretary of State for Labour, Joaquín Pérez Rey, in statements to RNE. “The total number of unemployed people is 2,572,121, the lowest figure for a month of August since 2008,” according to figures from the Ministry of Labour. In the last 12 months, unemployment has fallen by 130,579 people.
The end of the summer season was also reflected in the fact that Social Security lost an average of 193,704 contributors in August compared to the previous month. This is a similar drop to that of the last two years and is mainly due to the decrease in employment in education by more than 70,000 people and the decline in employment in construction and industry, which recorded 19,000 and 17,000 fewer contributors than in July, respectively.
In seasonally adjusted terms, “Social Security has registered 30,189 more members in the last month and this series has accumulated 52 months of uninterrupted growth,” according to data from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. Thus, “the employment level is consolidated at close to 21.2 million in a month with a strong seasonal component,” says Minister Elma Saiz.
Spain continues to show a higher rate of employment growth than other major European economies: with an increase of 9.4% compared to the pre-pandemic level, above France (+5.1%) or Germany (+1.7%).
“It is worth highlighting that the presence of foreign members is one of the driving forces of our labour market,” continues the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. Over the last decade, employment among foreigners has grown faster than that of nationals. Specifically, between January and August of this year, foreign members have grown 6 points more than the total membership. In August, members from other countries represented 13.4% of the total. Among the activities that have experienced gains in foreign members’ quotas above the average, some of high added value stand out, such as “information and communications”, as well as “construction” and “hospitality”.
Along the same lines, the increase in membership is very intense among those under 30 years of age, which has increased by 17.9% since the implementation of the labor reform. [de 2021]more than double the total increase (6.9%), which has also raised their average contribution bases.
“Not only are more jobs being created, but they are also higher-quality jobs: there are almost 3.4 million more workers with permanent contracts than before the labour reform, which exceeds 14.3 million in total,” says Elma Saiz’s Ministry. Since the beginning of 2024, more than 240,000 more permanent workers have been registered. Meanwhile, growth is concentrated in full-time contracts: they account for 64% of new members with permanent contracts.
Source: www.eldiario.es
