Employment falters in August with almost 190,000 fewer affiliates

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Unemployment rose by 40,428 people in the past month, a smaller increase than in previous summers despite economic uncertainty

August closed off peak season in Spain with more unemployed and fewer workers after nearly a year and a half of steady improvement in the labor market following the coronavirus crisis. Now, with uncertainty restored by the war in Ukraine and high inflation affecting the economy, Spain has registered 40,428 more unemployed in the past month, and the number of Social Security members is reduced by 189,963 people.

The Spanish work calendar maintains the usual trend of an economy heavily oriented towards tourism, which has its best working months from April, at Easter, to August, when contracts for travel and hospitality needs begin to be settled. Social Security Minister José Luis Escrivá had already expected employment to start to suffer this month, albeit less than usual when compared to other years. In any case, labor market figures have been the keys to which the government has hitherto held on to defend its economic policies.

In terms of unemployment, the number of people registered with the National Employment Office (SEPE) at the end of August increased by 40,428 people to 2,924,240. Compared to August 2021, unemployment has fallen by 409,675 people, more than 12% year on year.

The Department of Labor explains that “despite the context of economic uncertainty, it is a much smoother rise than in recent years leading up to the pandemic and also impacting the activities usually associated with this rise in August. ” In the August prior to the pandemic, when data was skewed by restrictions, unemployment rose by more than 46,000, 47,000 and 50,000 people from 2017 to 2019, respectively.

Unemployment fell in agriculture by 6,693 people (-4.53%) and in the Unemployed Group by -494 people (-0.2%) and in the service sector increased by 37,546 more unemployed (1.85%), in construction where unemployment increased by 5,095 people (2.23%) and in manufacturing by 4,974 people (2.13%).

In addition, the total number of registered contracts amounted to 1,283,791. The signing of new open-ended contracts has stabilized as 506,731 of the total are open-ended and represent 39.47%. This percentage is more than four times higher than the one recorded before the labor reform.

Employment behavior also reflects the job losses in August. Average Social Security affiliation accounts for 189,963 fewer affiliates, a figure the ministry clarifies that it is “a smaller setback than the average for the months of August 2017, 2018 and 2019,” before the pandemic when the figure reached nearly 200,000 members less in those months. This brings the total number of members to 20,151,001 (10,771,093 men and 9,379,908 women), which is 677,277 more members than a year ago.

Social Security emphasizes that, seasonally adjusted, employment has improved by 62,135 people, to a total of 20,173,277 members. Thus, 16 consecutive months of employment growth are accumulated.

Source: La Verdad

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