March job figures hare ahead

MARCH was a bumper month for employment, with an additional 152,000 people paying social security contributions, in seasonally adjusted terms, the largest increase for the month in the historical series since 1996.

The total number of contributors is now over 20.5 million, and represents an exceptional start to the year, with 291,477 more people in work, the biggest recorded rise for a first quarter of the year, reported the government. All regions of Spain now have higher levels of employment than before the pandemic, particularly the south of the country and the islands, with increases of over 5.9%.

The government said this illustrates the ongoing beneficial effects of the labour reform introduced 15 months ago, since when the number of contributors on temporary contracts has dropped to a historic low of 14% of the total, compared to an average of 30% before the reform.

There are now 2.6M contributors more with permanent contracts than in Dement cember 2021, the last month before the reform.

Another indicator of stability is the increase in the average duration of contracts, by 47 days between February and March compared to the same period of 2019, the last comparable year pre-pandemic.

Only around 15,000 people are still on the government’s ERTE furlough scheme.

The average growth in employment for young people is more than double the overall average (8% compared to 4% in 2022).

Temporary unemployand

for people aged under 30 has reduced from 53% to 21% since the labour reform.

“The dynamism of the labour market is helping to reinforce the pension system, and the ratio of contributors to pensioners has reached 2.41, the highest level for a decade,” the government noted.

Unemployment figures for March dropped by 48,755 (1.67%) on the month before to a total of 2,862,260 people registered with the state employment public service (SEPE), the biggest drop from a February since 2002 the lowest total for a month of March since 2008.

“This is especially positive data in the uncertain international economic context, especially in the finance sector,” the government assured.

The number of new contracts signed in March was 1,315,095, of which 616,674 (46.8%) were permanent, also a reflection of the changes implemented in the labour reform. Unemployment dropped in all regions except Madrid, where it increased by 1,013 people.