Spain created a record number of 603,900 jobs in the second quarter, according to data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) published this Thursday by the INE. It is a figure not seen in the entire historical series, which goes back to 2002. Unemployment in turn drops to 11.6%, maintaining the lowest levels since 2008. A considerable acceleration before the situation can slow down the market due to the continued rise in interest rates and a certain economic slowdown, warn experts.
Marked by the summer, services -tourism, hotels, restaurants…- are the great engine and creators of a large part of employment. After overcoming the covid crisis, employment once again looks to the tourism sector to gain momentum, positions that generally have little added value and lower salaries. In any case, the barrier of 21 million employed people (21.05) is broken, something that was not achieved even in the brick boom. Thus, the photo presented is very positive.
The second quarter is usually good for employment, since it is hired for the summer season. “Extraordinary data that demonstrates the strength of our economy”, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has reacted on his networks.
The other positive note is that unemployment fell to 11.6%, 1.7 points less than at the start of the year, to the lowest rate since the third quarter of 2008. Unemployment fell by 365,300 people between April and June, with 2.76 million unemployed in total.
Combining the figures gives a record in the active population, with 23.8 million people. They are those who work or are willing to work. It occurs because “the market attracts more and more people,” said Gonzalo García Andrés, Secretary of State for the Economy. María Jesús Fernández, senior economist at Funcas, highlights that the foreign population “is growing at a very intense pace, with an interannual growth rate of 10% in employment compared to 1.8% among Spaniards. These are the highest rates after The financial crisis”.
The employment created is almost all in the service sector, with 606,000 more jobs in the quarter. Construction adds 60,900 employees and agriculture 1,500, while industry destroys 64,500. In the latter case, they are still trying to recover their tone after the energy crisis. “The result of the industry has been bad,” says Fernández, who points out that in general employment is advancing more than the economy in seasonally adjusted terms, with an increase of 1.4%.
The private sector pulls employment. “It confirms the efforts of companies to maintain and generate new jobs,” the CEOE employers have puffed up. She affirms that the agreement for wage increases with the unions “has created a framework of stability and reduction of uncertainties that favors job creation.” Companies created 610,100 jobs, while the public sector lost 6,200 workers. After the labor reform, the bulk of jobs are permanent: 81% of new wage earners are.
The unions have celebrated the data, but they ask to resolve the “high” bias or the “great” long-term unemployment, since 40.4% of the total unemployed have been looking for a job for a year or more, the UGT has denounced. “A country can never resign itself to having an unemployment rate of 11.6%,” said Unai Sordo, general secretary of the CC.OO.
The hospitality industry generates 270,900 jobs, mainly in accommodation and food and beverage services, followed by 103,600 jobs in professional activities, mainly with architects and engineers and in advertising and market studies. “Today most of the employment is being generated in sectors such as tourism, hotels, restaurants…”, reiterated Javier Blasco de Luna, from Adecco. The analyst highlights that the hours worked are not going at the same speed and are growing less than employment, 1.53% compared to 3%. Fernández believes that the long-term trend is for hours per employee to drop, but this is a phenomenon that needs to be clarified.
As is customary in these months, the most attractive regions for tourism lead the creation of jobs. Catalonia (132,700 more workers) and the Balearic Islands (108,100) break the barrier of 100,000 jobs generated. Madrid continues with 77,300 and Andalucía with 52,600 in a general trend, since employment is advancing in all communities except Ceuta.
The monthly affiliation data anticipated a strong job creation, but with a slowdown in hiring as the year progresses, especially after a June with the lowest job growth since 2015, in the midst of an environment of high inflation and rising rates . “With the affiliation data we have seen a rate of annual slowdown. The EPA does not give the same signals, we have had a good quarter, both in terms of job creation and unemployment reduction”, stated Valentín Bote, director of Randstad Research.
The bump may come a little later. In the second half of the year, the ECB’s restrictive policy with rates “will have its maximum effect”, they comment in Funcas, and the arrival of tourists and their spending will have peaked. Everything leaves less room to continue growing, “with a slowdown that will have an impact on job creation.”
In unemployment, the tonic is also good. The general rate remains at the commented 11.6%, which is 10.19% for men and 13.16% for women. “Full employment is within reach”, has ventured García Andrés, who sets that goal above 8%. Youth unemployment, among those under 25 years of age, fell two points, to 27.94%, another minimum since the end of 2008.
Catalonia, with 70,400 people, the Balearic Islands, with 68,800, and Madrid, with almost 50,000, lead the falls in unemployment. Once again, tourism sets the trend: in the Balearic Islands unemployment falls by 58% from one quarter to the next at the busiest time of the year.
There are already ten autonomies with less than a 10% unemployment rate and the lowest is seen in the Basque Country, with 7.13%. The largest, on the contrary, occurs in Andalusia, with 18.05%. “There is no forecast that unemployment will be further reduced in the year. The rate is very different in different geographies and we have some territory like Ceuta where it continues to exceed 20%”, says Bote. From Adecco they do not see unemployment below 12.5% ??when the year closes.
