The labor market put the brakes on right at the gates of Christmas in the worst month of November in the last three years, after the pandemic. Employment seems to be accompanying the slowdown in the economy more and more and is no longer showing the extraordinary drive that has accompanied the end of the health crisis and that has allowed employment to be reached at historic levels in Spain. Affiliation to Social Security stagnated, including a loss of the anecdotal figure of 155 contributors compared to October, while unemployment did show a more robust behavior with a drop of 33.000 unemployed in the eleventh month of the year.
As of this year, as of November, Social Security registers a total of 20.283.631 subscribers, 531.273 more than one year, more than the SEPE lists accumulate the figure of 2.881.380 unemployed. Of course, the drop in unemployment is the second largest drop this month in the last decade, only surpassed by that of 2021 marked by the pandemic and places the level at the lowest since 2007.
For its part, the behavior of the businessman made public by the Ministry of Social Security shows that he has certainly lost the momentum and inertia of recent years, so the comparison is more pleasant if we look at the period prior to the pandemic. Thus, until 2021 there was an increase in the affiliation of 61.768 workers and in 2020 there were 31.638, the average from 2017 to 2019 the average decline was 37.000 affiliates.
Companies, waiting
However, the figures for contribution additions relating only to the general workers' regime show the cooling of the economy and the uncertainty in the face of the economic crisis that prevents the Government itself and that almost all international institutions anticipate. Specifically, the salaried regime gained 3.868 workers in November, more than in previous years, the contracts prior to Christmas increased the workforce by 60.944 and 29.467, respectively.
In fact, the negative balance for Social Security is explained by the sharp drop in self-employment. Specifically, we lost 2.801 self-employed workers in November, also the worst since the pandemic emerged for this group.
In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of Social Security contributors chained its nineteenth consecutive increase in November after adding the system 78.695 employed persons (+0,39%), it has a total of 20.319.146 people, also in line with what was anticipated by Escrivá in the middle of the month, when he predicted an increase in employment of some 80.000 people.
The Ministry has highlighted that 480.044 jobs have been created between January and November in seasonally adjusted values. Since the beginning of 2021, when the level of affiliation prior to the pandemic was exceeded, employment has increased to around 825.000 contributors.
Services pull unemployment
Thus, by sector, compared to October, registered unemployment decreased in services by 25.083 people (-1,21%), in agriculture by 4.507 people (-3,67%), in industry by 3.783 (-1,59% ) and under construction in 1.924 people (-0,86%). In this way, the loss of employees related to the service sector accounted for 75% of the total fall in unemployment this month. Of course, the group without previous employment increased to 1.785 people (0,71%).
As of this month, the total number of contracts registered during November was 1.424.283, 29,5% less than in the same 2021. Of the total, 615.236 contracts are permanent – more than doubled (+117,4 %) at the end of November 2021-, where 43,2% of the total signed is assumed.
Of the total number of permanent contracts signed in November, 252.714 were full-time, 43,7% more than in the same month last year; 212.947 were permanent-discontinuous contracts, multiplying by more than six the figure for November 2021 (+525,9%), and 149.575 were permanent part-time contracts, double the number a year earlier (+104,5%).
On the other hand, of all the contracts signed in November, 809.047 were temporary contracts, 53,4% less than in the same month of 2021.
In the first months of 2022, more than 6,5 million permanent contracts have been carried out, more than double that in the same period of 2021, thanks to the promotion of the labor reform, in force since the beginning of this year. The temporary contraction has fallen in this period by 33%.
Unemployment rise in new communities
Registered unemployment suffered in November in new autonomous communities, especially in the Balearic Islands (+1.587 landslides), Castilla y León (+1.554 landslides) and Catalonia (+986 landslides), and fell in eight regions, especially in the Valencian Community (-15.330 unemployed), Andalusia (-11.169) and Madrid (-7.757).
As for the provinces, it fell in 26 years, taking Valencia (-8.260 departures), Madrid (-7.757 departures) and Alicante (-4.757), increasing in 26, mainly in the Balearic Islands (+1.587 departures), Tarragona (+793 employees) and Malaga (+710).
