Unemployment was reduced by 782,000 people when it fell to 3.1 million unemployed, while those affected by ERTE fell to just over 100,000
The Spanish labor market maintains the growth rate that began after the wave of the coronavirus that hit the economy a year ago and has managed to close 2021 with 776,478 more contributors, representing an increase of 4% in the last year. In total, the system has 19,842,427 workers, which represents a new record, like those registered consecutively in recent months, according to data from the Ministry of Social Security.
The recovery in employment began after the first quarter of last year, when the then third wave of the coronavirus forced the recovery of a good part of the restrictions, although since then it has not stopped growing. Despite the fluctuations in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data, lower than initially estimated, Spain closed the first year of recovery from the pandemic with 362,613 more contributors than it had before the coronavirus began to spread, in March 2020.
In December, enrollment grew by 70,814 workers compared to the previous month (0.36% more), which represents the largest increase in that month. Thus, eight consecutive months of increases have accumulated, which add a total of 822,802 more employed persons to the system since May, and the trend of job creation prior to the pandemic is recovered, according to Social Security.
The sectors that have registered the greatest increases compared to the same month last year in the General Regime are Hospitality (17.77%), Artistic, Recreational and Entertainment Activities (16.24%) Information and Communications (8.78%) and Scientific and Technical Professional Activities (6.84%).
Regarding the territories, in the last twelve months all the autonomous communities have incorporated occupied. The increase in the number of Social Security members stands out in the Canary Islands (6.43%), the Balearic Islands, with 5.52%, and the Community of Madrid (4.97%).
Unemployment falls to 3.1 million
The affiliation data follow the same path as the evolution of unemployment. The last month of the year 2021 has ended with a fall in the total of people unemployed in the offices of the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) of 76,782 in relation to the previous month. In this way, December marks a new record by accumulating ten consecutive months of decreases, the longest period in the historical series in which the total decrease in the unemployed is 902,884 people.
The total registered unemployment stands at 3,105,905 people. It is the lowest figure for a month of December since 2007 and represents 140,142 fewer unemployed than at the beginning of the pandemic, in February 2020. Compared to December 2020, unemployment has fallen by 782,232 people, which represents a drop greater than 20%.
These are the latest records of the strike with the previous labor regulations, before the reform was approved, which is pending validation in the Congress of Deputies. These data insist on the usual dynamics of the Spanish labor market: the total number of contracts registered during the month of December was 1,681,550. Of all of them, only 10.3% were permanent. The rest, more than 1.4 million, temporary. In any case, the number of contracts represents an increase of 326,403 (24.09%) over the same month in 2020. The accumulated contracting in 2021 has reached the figure of 19,384,359 with 3,441,298 more contracts (21 , 58%) than in the previous year.
About 100,000 people in ERTE
In the case of ERTEs, no significant impact is seen for the moment due to the wave of the omicron variant. The number of workers protected by ERTE linked to COVID-19, coming from any of the ERTE modalities launched during the pandemic, closed the month of December at 102,548 people, which represents a decrease of more than 35,000 workers compared to as of October 31, the last date before the new ERTE modalities came into force due to the pandemic. Of the total, workers are distributed practically 50% between those who are partially suspended (49,685) and totally (52,863), according to preliminary data from Social Security.
The 102,548 workers in ERTE-COVID as of December 31, 2021 represent a decrease of almost 520,000 workers compared to those protected just a year earlier by ERTE related to COVID. Regarding the peak of the pandemic, it represents a decrease of more than 3 million people.
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