2023-09-05 02:14:56
August has confirmed the negative trend indicated at the beginning of the summer. Unemployment rose by 24,826 people after five months of declines and once again exceeded 2.7 million –the barrier from which it had fallen for the first time in 15 years last June–, 0.9% more, mainly driven by loss of employment in the service sector. The data that came from Social Security, which lost 185,385 affiliates (-0.88%), until reaching the border of 20.7 million, clearly below the record reached last May, is not good either. In addition, 1,088,831 contracts were signed in August, 23.9% less than in July and 15.2% less than in the same month of 2022, of which only 418,927 -38.5% of the total- were of an indefinite nature, a figure 17.3% lower than that of August 2022, and 669,904 were temporary, 62% of the total.
It is precisely in hiring where the greatest shadows emerge. 38.47% of the contracts carried out were permanent, a percentage one point lower than that registered in July, of which 171,886 were full-time, which represents a worrying 21% less than in the same month last year, and 94,546 were permanent part-time (-20.5%). So far this year, just over 4.4 million permanent contracts have been signed, 1.4% less than in the same period in 2022, and 5.77 million temporary contracts, 28.2% less.
The number of affiliates with a temporary contract represented 13.8% of the system’s total, a figure that has remained stable throughout this year and represents almost half of the values prior to the labor reform. But this temporary rate is always tempered by the growth in the contracting of discontinuous fixed lines, which have increased exponentially, 152,495 were subscribed in August. In addition, the number of employed job seekers, including workers with a permanent discontinuous contract, increased by 8,000. Thus, the number of registered contracts continues to decline. The figure for August was the lowest for that month since 2013. The percentage that the fixed accounts represent of the total remains stable at around 45% in seasonally adjusted figures.
Unemployment increased in both sexes, although more among men, which rose by 13,869 men (+1.3%), compared to a rise in female unemployment of 10,957 women (+0.7%). Nor is there good news on youth unemployment (under 25 years of age), after increasing by 2.1%, with 3,919 more unemployed than at the end of July. Unemployment increased mainly in the services sector (23,097 more people), but also in construction (4,792 more) and industry (2,483 more), while it only decreased in the agricultural sector (2,874 fewer people) and among the unemployed group previous (2,672 less).
Regarding the territorial distribution of unemployment, it only fell in La Rioja, although with a meager reduction of 49 people, while in the 16 remaining autonomies it grew, with Catalonia at the fore (7,516 more unemployed), followed by the Valencian Community ( 3,190) and Andalusia (2,882). By province, unemployment grew especially in Barcelona, with 5,431 more unemployed; in Madrid, with 2,806 more, and in Valencia, with 1,740 more unemployed.
The Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, has justified these bad data in that they are due to the seasonal situation, since for 25 years unemployment has increased in the eighth month of the year due to “the seasonal cycles of the production model” and they preferred to see the glass half full by noting that this rise in unemployment was lower than that experienced in the same month of 2022, when unemployment increased by 40,428 people, and the lowest in this month since 2016, although they lose out compared to 2021, when there was a drop in unemployment of 82,583 people – marked by the return to normality after the pandemic – According to Trabajo, in the last year unemployment accumulated a decrease of 221,540 unemployed, which is 7.6% less, with a drop in female unemployment of 121,560 women (-7%) and a fall in male unemployment of 99,980 men (-8.5%).
Businessmen do not have the same perception as the minister. The CEOE and Cepyme employers warned yesterday that the slowdown in the rate of job creation observed in recent months “may be aggravated from autumn, which can be especially hard due to the high costs they support and the pressure of inflation on household consumption. They also point out that uncertainty is “hampering the investment decisions of companies”, which negatively affects employment, and they warn that “a greater loss of dynamism can still be expected from October”.
And the figures prove them right. All four regimes suffered contributor losses. The General Scheme lost 173,981 affiliates (-1%), up to a total of 17,304,610 employed, while the self-employed (RETA) subtracted 10,945 affiliates from its ranks (-0.3%), which placed the total number of contributors own account in 3,333,617. For its part, the Special Agrarian System lost 12,310 jobs in the eighth month of the year (-1.9%) and continues with its poor annual data and the Home registered 3,104 casualties (-0.82%).
Within the General Regime, the drop in affiliation was the general trend in most sectors. The education sector once again suffered the greatest drop in employment, losing 59,407 contributors compared to the previous month (-6.3%). Construction followed, with 17,262 fewer employees (-1.7%); administrative activities, with 17,069 fewer affiliates (-1.2%), and artistic and entertainment activities, where employment decreased by 15,784 people (-5.1%). At the opposite extreme, the increase in affiliation in health activities and social services stood out, which added 16,853 contributors in August compared to July (+0.9%). At least the general drop in membership is lower than that experienced in the same month of 2022, when the system lost almost 190,000 average members, and the lowest since 2017 (-179,485 contributors), but the data is worse than in 2021 and 2020.
#Fulltime #hiring #plummets