Unemployment falls by 11,394 people, its best figure since 2015 and stands at 3.1 million unemployed
After the traditional setback in January, the job rejoined the path of increases during the month of February. Spain added 67,111 newly employed compared to the previous month, being the best February in the last two years and placing the number of Social Security affiliates at 19.69 million active workers. Not only did it gain in number, but the records published this Wednesday by the Government also reveal a new record for permanent contracts. The sectors that pulled the most from the occupation were construction, education and hospitality, the latter already free from restrictions by omicron. The unemploymentfor its part, also returned to the path of decline, falling by 11,394 people and standing at 3.1 million unemployed.
During the first months of the year, 2022 is experiencing an incipient change in trend in favor of quality employment. Slightly fewer contracts were signed, but with an unprecedented record for permanent contracts. Specifically, in February there were 316,841 permanent contracts, the highest statistical figure available. The increase in permanent contracts since the new labor reform came into force is very substantial, to the point that in January 2022 there were 92% more permanent contracts than in January 2021 and in February said rebound rose to 139%.
“A quite substantial cultural change is taking place in the hiring dynamics of the labor market”, declared the Secretary of State for Employment, Joaquín Pérez Rey. This increase in employment stability is also explained by the fact that the economy is growing in branches with better working conditions, such as information and communications waves scientific-technical activities.
Despite the fact that this rebound in the quality of employment can be attributed, in part, to the effect of the new regulations, the Spanish labor market still has its own vices. temporality chronic that aspires to tame the new norm. The massive creation and destruction of contracts at the beginning and end of the month is still in force, even though the penalties for ultra-short contracts have been increased. As an example, February ended the month with 128,773 registrations to Social Security and another 217,707 cancellations on the same day.
Unemployment only falls among men
February is not usually a very prolific month with regard to the decrease in unemployment, although this year it left a higher record than in recent years. It was the February in which unemployment fell the most since 2015 and it did so eminently among mens. Among women, the decrease was symbolic, of only 816 stops. The current number of unemployed is the lowest in a month of February since 2008, when the financial crisis and the brick just began to unfold its effects and would end up taking the peak of unemployed to over five million people throughout Spain.
The collective of self-employed continues to show great resilience and continues to gain new members. Specifically in February the balance was positive in 3,424 self-employed workers, adding up to a total of 3.3 million active self-employed.
The ertes stagnate until March
The lengthening of the last extension of the covid ertes until March 31 has caused the number of affected workers to have hardly changed in the last month and the companies will wait until the end of March to decide whether to renew (or not) their files and transit towards the new legislation. The total number of employees involved in a suspension file closed the month at 101,736 people, 4,000 less than a month ago.
The three sectors that feed this figure are fundamentally the restorationthe Hotels and the travel agency. Between these three they add up to more than half of those 101,736 affected by erte. For travel agencies, the Government has yet to activate the RED mechanism for sectoral furloughs throughout the month of March and thus the firms of the union will be able to avail themselves of special aid once the extension ends.
Catalonia creates twice as many jobs as Madrid
Catalonia led the creation of employment in absolute terms and was the third that created the most in relative terms during February (behind Balearics and Murcia). The four Catalan provinces gained 21,247 new employees, twice as many as the Madrid’s community, and place the total number of active workers in Catalonia above the symbolic level of 3.5 million people. The growth in employment was modest but widespread and only Andalusia and Castilla la Mancha registered negative employment rates.
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With regard to unemployment statistics, it fell in nine autonomous communities compared to January, with Madrid (-15,770), Canarias (-2,022) and Illes Balears (-1,931) leading the way. Catalonia, for its part, registered an imperceptible decrease of 142 people, to a total of 371,660 unemployed.