2024-01-03 21:38:33
Asturias closed 2023 with 57,371 registered unemployed, 4,515 less than a year before and the lowest figure for a month of December since 2007 (the year before the great financial crisis), after achieving a decrease of 7.3% in the interannual rate, higher by 2.71 points than the average reduction in the country as a whole (4.59% in the last twelve months).
Asturias was the sixth community in which unemployment fell the most in percentage terms in the periodonly surpassed by Aragón, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Galicia and Castilla y León, according to the records of the Public Employment Service.
This good performance of the Asturian labor market in 2023 does not obviate the fact that, according to the latest active population survey (EPA), which was released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) in October, the Principality needs to continue with the improvement, given that, in the absence of According to the data for the fourth quarter, the region is the fifth with the highest unemployment rate (13.09% in the third quarter), 1.25 points higher than the Spanish average (11.84%).
The year-on-year job creation, measured in Social Security affiliations, grew in Asturias by 7,576 contributors, 2.03% more than in December 2022, up to 377,576 affiliated to the system, but this increase was 63 hundredths less than the average national: in Spain it increased 2.66%. The position of Asturias in the regional “ranking” was more discreet: It was the ninth region for job creation, behind Aragon, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Madrid and Murcia. The number of Asturian contributors is the highest in the month of December since the 388,679 it reached in the last month of 2009.
Even so, and despite the notable progress in recent years, the region continues to reflect a still weak position: The community accounts for 2.11% of the unemployed registered in the country’s employment offices, but only 1.82% of the affiliated workers in Spain. to Social Security.
The drop in unemployment in Asturias in the last twelve months has occurred both among men (it was reduced by 2,625 people) and among women (1,890), in all productive sectors – especially in industry (-12.93%) and in construction (-10.55%)–, in all age segments (especially in the group of 25 to 45 years old) and in 70 of the 78 municipalities: unemployment only increased in El Franco, Quirós, Las Regueras, Salas, Somiedo and Yernes and Tameza, while in Teverga and Ribera de Arriba it remained stable.
If the annual average is taken from January to December, registered unemployment in Asturias averaged 58,521 job seekers, the lowest figure since 2008.
Since December 2019 (the year before the pandemic), unemployment has decreased in the community by 12,585 people.
Monthly data. The month of December maintained the improving trend in Asturias, with a reduction of 612 unemployed, all of them women. Female unemployment decreased by 613 people and male unemployment increased by one person. The improvement in unemployment was 1.06 percentage points, slightly more favorable than the average behavior in Spain, where registered unemployment contracted 1% in monthly rate.
Unemployment grew slightly in December compared to November among those over 45 years of age and fell in the rest of the age segments, especially among those under 25 years of age, where it decreased by 12.31%. By sectors, it contracted among claimants without previous employment (-5.13%) and services (-1.15%), and grew in agriculture and fishing (4.28%), industry (2.09%) and construction (1.65%).
Social Security affiliation expanded compared to November with 793 additional affiliates, which represented an improvement of 0.21%, seven hundredths greater than the increase in Spain as a whole.
Contracts. Regarding contracts, 17,088 were formalized in December. This represents 10.36% less than the previous month and 10.13% below December 2022.
Of the total contracts, 11,878 were temporary, 4,817 were permanent and 393 were training.
Spain. Although there is a certain weakening due to the effect of the rise in interest rates and other macroeconomic factors, the favorable trend continued in the Spanish labor market, which closed December with the lowest unemployment recorded since 2007. Unemployment stood at 2,707,456 people, 1% less than in November and 4.59% below a year ago. In December, job seekers decreased by 27,375 people, and by 130,197 compared to twelve months earlier.
These are less intense figures than those of recent years, except for 2020, but they prolong the improvement ahead of a year (2024) for which a generalized economic slowdown is forecast in advanced economies, although Spain is expected to perform better than the average of the EU and the rest of the large economies in the area.
At the same time, the improvement in employment, although it also slowed down, continued its progression. The average number of Social Security affiliates in December reached 20,836,010 contributors. It is an unprecedented volume in Spain for the month of December, although, given the high seasonality of the Spanish economy due to its dominant productive structure, it remained below the 20,891,885 of last July, in the middle of the summer hiring season. The increase in members in the last year has been 540,000. And compared to December 2019 (before covid), employment grew by 1,427,472 contributors.
In relation to the month of November, registered unemployment decreased in December in services (-1.28%), agriculture (-1.97%) and among the group without previous employment (-2.80%), and increased in industry (0.69%) and in construction (2.53%).
Principality, unions and FADE judge the figures to be good, but they appreciate aspects to improve
The director of the Public Employment Service of Asturias (Sepepa), Begoña López, positively valued the data on the decrease in unemployment and increase in affiliations in Asturias. As challenges, he pointed out the need to reduce the gap between “what the labor market demands and the training received by those who are looking for a job, to which the new Vocational Training and the announced modernization of the employment service will contribute,” he said. “.
CC OO of Asturias highlighted the “positive behavior” of employment in Asturias, but judged the number of unemployed to be “unaffordable” and called for “shock plans” for young people, women and the long-term unemployed. “We need more and better jobs,” she said, although she highlighted the increase in permanent contracts since the labor reform. UGT highlighted the “dynamism” and “impulse” of the regional labor market, but expressed its “concern about the slowdown compared to November” and called for “continuing to adapt Sepepa to new needs.”
The FADE employers’ association highlighted “the good evolution of employment in Asturias”, but warned that “contracting consolidates, however, its deterioration with a sharp decrease in the number of contracts signed in Asturias throughout the year.”
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