He working market live a sweet moment and the creation of employment it barely loosens up after a little over two years of effervescence. The month of May it closed with a net job creation of 200,411 workers, a figure similar to that of previous Mays, although slightly more contained and leaving subtle signs of cooling off. This very slight slowdown -which in the coming months will have to confirm if it is punctual or inaugurates a change of cycle- does not prevent Spain from exceeding the level of the 20.8 million active workers.
Never before have there been so many people affiliated with Social Security at the same time, not even before the brick crisis, according to data published this Friday by the Labor and Social Security ministries. Catalonia It was the second autonomous region that has created the most employment, contributing more than twice as many new employees as Madrid. For his part, he unemployment fell by 49,260 people and stands at 2.7 million peoplethe lowest figure for a month in May since 2008.
Spain is currently navigating favorable months for job creation, with less seasonal activities registering positive balances -although not explosive- and those linked to holidays and good weather operating at full capacity. The hostelry, contributing 67,315 new jobs, was the sector of activity that most pulled employment this May. The job market owes part of the good records in recent months to bars, restaurants, taverns and hotels.
Although during the months immediately following the end of the covid restrictions, the sector was slow to start up, as if suddenly diesel In any case, it has subsequently picked up speed and its employment levels already exceed those it had in 2019. In the last year it is the activity that, in absolute terms, has created the most employment (100,558) and, in percentage terms, the third (7.1 %), behind the companies of information and communications and those of energy supply. By gender, job creation between men and women in May was even.
June and July are still months of positive behavior for employment, in which the latest reinforcements for the summer campaign raise hiring and it would not be out of the question for Spain to reach the symbolic level of 21 million employed. Although retaining it after the traditional fall and winter contractions seems unlikely. If the same jobs are created next month as last year, the general elections They will be held with a labor market with 20.9 million active workers.
winter mystery
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The good records in absolute terms, marked by the inertia of practically two consecutive years in which employment has been devouring records with a voracity with few precedents, do not hide increasingly clear signs of exhaustion. Having passed the data through the Social Security kitchen and subtracting the seasonal component there -very strong in the Spanish economy-, the growth of the labor market leaves a substantially less explosive image. To put it in proportion, in May 200,411 jobs were created, while subtracting the cyclical component, the gain was 47,883 employed.
And the alarm signal does not come so much because of the disparity between these two figures, usual in highly seasonal months, but if it is compared with job creation seasonally adjusted registered in the last few months. May has been the ‘laziest’ month so far in 2023. Although the Secretary of State for Social Security, Borja Suarezhas highlighted in a press conference the inertia and the balance of job creation accumulated so far this year, which is substantially higher than the two previous years.