Every September the same pattern is repeated in the matter of employment. In an economy as markedly seasonal as the Spanish one, the end of summer contracts inevitably causes an increase in unemployment, which this year has amounted to 19,768 more unemployed. Bad news that, this time, has been combined with another more positive one, the registration of 18,295 new members of the Social Security, which indicates that the growth of employment continues, although the rate is moderated , especially in relation to the first semester of the year. This increase in affiliates in September is the smallest since 2019.
With this increase, the total number of affiliates stands at 20,724,000, the highest average for a month of September. In addition, another positive fact is that the daily evolution shows that the month started badly, but it gradually improved, so that during some days, from September 20 to 29, 20.8 were exceeded millions of affiliates.
As we said, it is the highest average for a month of September, but it is far behind the month of July, when the 20.9 million members were wiped out. Then came a bad August and now the increase in September.
With these data, the Secretary of State for Social Security, Borja Suárez, affirms that “the labor market continues to show great dynamism. The result of nine months of this year is already better than that of the full year 2022, which was already very good in terms of employment”.
As for the seasonally adjusted figures, that is to say, eliminating the calendar effect and seasonality, which are preferred by the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security, the increase is 12,921 members, a figure also slightly lower than in recent years.
If the average affiliation by sector is examined, two elements stand out. On the one hand, the drop of 32,000 jobs in the hospitality industry and 40,000 in trade, a sign of the end of summer contracts in tourism, and in the opposite direction, the 86,000 new jobs in education. Those of the teachers dismissed at the beginning of the summer holidays who have been hired again. This data may have been increased by a technical correction, because the classification that corresponded to some public employees of autonomous communities has been modified, which could cause the figure to be exaggerated, but in any case it is high.
If the unemployment figures are examined, what is seen are the effects of the end of the summer holidays, and with that, also the expiration of the contracts signed to cover this period with the entry into unemployment of ‘a significant number of workers. This is also what happened in September, with an increase of 19,768 registered unemployed, a slightly higher increase than last year. According to the Ministry of Labour, it is a more moderate increase than usual for this month. With this increase, the number of registered unemployed stands at 2,722,468, a figure that is the lowest in this month since 2008.
Examining unemployment by sector, the incidence of services is clearly seen, which is the only sector in which it increases, with 18,820 more unemployed, which shows the impact of the end of the tourist season, while, on the other hand, it decreases in construction, agriculture and very slightly in industry.
The Secretary of State for Employment, Joaquín Pérez Rey, sums it up perfectly, pointing out that the increase in unemployment is “concentrated sectorally, it affects services, and within services, activities linked to tourism, and territorially, because Andalusia concentrates the “increase in the number of unemployed”.
Specifically, unemployment is increasing in six autonomous communities, and Andalusia is where it is growing the most, to the point that in absolute terms, it accounts for eight out of ten unemployed people. There are 15,000 more unemployed, followed by Madrid and Galicia. On the other hand, there are six communities in which unemployment has fallen, with Catalonia, the Canary Islands and the Basque Country as the communities where it has fallen the most.
