Holy Week boosts the labor market with 184,500 additional members and a drop in unemployment of more than 86,000 people, although the unemployment rate fails to fall below the three million threshold
April of records. For the first time in Spain’s history, Social Security will reach 20 million members, a target the former Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, had set for 2019, which is why it is being reached four years late, following a pandemic that has suddenly reached nearly a million. jobs and in the midst of a war that is pushing prices to record levels not seen in more than three decades.
But against all odds, the labor market is showing resilience in times of crisis that no one could have imagined a short time ago, when a small change affected it completely, even accelerating the pace of job creation compared to March , when a certain delay was observed raising concerns as to whether it would persist over time, but which is almost exclusively explained by the transport strike.
So, if spring is usually a good time for it, this year didn’t disappoint, also helped by the pull of Holy Week, which brought tourism to a level of activity comparable to that seen before the pandemic. And these first vacations without restrictions of any kind have had a clear reflection: 184,577 new jobs were created, the third-best figure for April, in line with the average of the years leading up to the pandemic, according to data released this Wednesday. by the Ministry of Social Security.
In line with previous months, unemployment has not fallen in line with employment, but significantly lower, although it must be taken into account that the labor force is growing and that the labor market has also had to take in workers affected by an ERTE covid, as this mechanism ended last April and only 6,000 affected are unregistered for work.
Unemployment, for example, fell by more than 86,000 people, a better figure than in the two years of the pandemic, but slightly lower than in the 2017-2019 period. It is therefore on the verge of falling below the three million mark, something that has not been possible since November 2008, shortly after the outbreak of the real estate crisis.
But the other milestone reached in April is an unprecedented rise in open-ended contracts, with nearly half of signed contracts remaining stable over time.
Of the more than 1.45 million registered, a total of 698,646 were of undetermined nature, the highest number in the historical series. There are 534,566 more permanent contracts signed compared to April last year, four times more than in 2021, and 441,318 fewer temporary contracts, a decrease of 37%, which is a clear symptom of the rapid effects of the labor reform in your country. has achieved. first full month of application.
“They told us it wasn’t possible and it is possible. The labor reform is working,” boasted the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, emphasizing that this represents a “change in the paradigm of the labor market in our country.” “We are Europeans and seasonal sectors are also compatible with job stability,” he cheered.
This sharp increase in the number of permanent contracts, from 10% in January to 48% today, has been observed in all sectors, in all Autonomous Communities, in all age groups and among both men and women.
As a result, the total number of permanent employees has risen to 77% of all donors, six points more than is usual in April. At the same time, the substantial decline in very short-term contracts is accentuated: in April of previous years, three out of four contracts signed had a term of between one and seven days, compared with one in four last month.
The only shadow of the quality of employment left in April is that of the nearly 700,000 open-ended contracts signed, the majority of which were part-time and permanently interrupted, while fewer than 285,000 were full-time. In other words, companies may have replaced temporary work with part-time work (with an open-ended contract) as a flexibility formula.
The hotel industry has emerged as the engine of employment, concentrating nearly two-thirds of the net jobs created in April, although it should be borne in mind that pre-pandemic levels have not yet recovered. On the contrary, employment in construction, banking and healthcare has been destroyed.
Thanks to the acceleration in April, employment has reached an unprecedented rate of creation of 5% over the past decade, adding nearly a million contributors (963,782) over the past year and reaching pre-crisis levels well above the sanitary level.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
