The labor market closed the first quarter with a note, despite the uncertainty caused by the financial crisis, and March was, moreover, a particularly positive month in terms of job creation. Registered unemployment fell in the third month of the year by 48,755 people, a drop of 1.67% which, although it was not the biggest monthly drop in total terms, was the best figure percentage per month since 2002. The average affiliation to the Social Security, for its part, grew to the best historical record, and touched 20.4 million, thanks to the 206,410 new affiliates.
The number of unemployed registered in the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) was 2,862,260 in March. Since 2008 such a figure has not been registered at the end of the first quarter. In the last twelve months, coinciding with the year of full application of the labor reform after the three-month vacatio legis established, there have been 246,503 fewer unemployed.
The drop in unemployment is widespread in all sectors of the economy, especially in services, on the eve of the Easter campaign; in all the autonomous regions, with the exception of the Community of Madrid, where there was also a more moderate growth in membership, and in all ages. An evolution that, according to the Secretary of State for Employment, JoaquÃn Pérez Rey, shows a “cultural change in the labor market”. “Before, the smallest difficulties were reflected in employment”, he recalled.
Female unemployment experienced the largest decline in the historical series in March. It was reduced by 25,897 women, up to 1,718,823. It is the lowest figure at the end of the first quarter in the last fifteen years. Since 2021, registered female unemployment has decreased by 559,776 people.
As for young people, March is a month in which unemployment usually rises. This has not been the case this year, even though unemployment among under-25s has barely dropped by 267 people.
Andalusia was the autonomous region where unemployment fell the most in March, followed by the Canary Islands, Castilla y León and Castilla-La Mancha. In Catalonia there were 2,987 fewer unemployed. In the Community of Madrid, registered unemployment rose by 1,013 people. According to its adviser, Javier Fernández-Lasquetty, it was because the region attracts people from other places who are looking for future professional opportunities.
The total number of contracts registered in March was 1,315,095. Of this number, 615,674 were of an indefinite nature, 46.82%. In the Social Security data, it is also observed that the percentage of affiliates with a temporary contract was reduced to reach the historical minimum of 14%, while before the approval of the labor reform it was of 30%. In global terms, there are currently 2.6 million more members with an indefinite contract than in December 2021. This, according to the Government, implies that the market is “moving towards more stable contracts that are compatible with new positions of work”.
The greatest job creation also took place in sectors with high added value, such as IT and telecommunications and scientific and technical activities.
According to the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, the employment data for March was “extraordinary from any point of view”. “A climate of great confidence has been created” in the Spanish economy, he added.
The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, criticized Escrivá’s “triumphalism” because today’s figures are “worse”. He highlighted, in this regard, that at the end of March “there are 25,000 more unemployed than in the last quarter of 2022”, and added the debt of one and a half billion. He also cited Airef for referring to “double accounting”, although the independent body clarified on Saturday that it had never wanted to question the statistics on employment.
