Employment continues to show excellent performance in the first half of 2023, with a new registration record in May and a drop in unemployment to 2.7 million people, which is the lowest figure in a month of May since 2008 .
With regard to job creation, the data for May represent a chain of four consecutive months of increase in affiliations and, even more significantly, breaking records. The 200,411 new jobs created in May bring the average affiliation to a total of 20.8 million people, which is the maximum number of affiliates ever reached. There was already a record in April, with 20.6 million affiliates, but May has surpassed it.
It is true that May is usually a good month for membership and even that the average increase in the years prior to the pandemic was higher, but there is a significant element. On this occasion, three consecutive months have been chained with a strong increase in membership. “For the third consecutive month we exceeded the monthly growth threshold of 200,000 affiliates. These are figures that are impressive due to the ability they show to continue generating employment,” said the General Secretary of Social Security, Borja Suárez, when presenting the data this morning.
Affiliation increases in all economic activities and with special intensity in the hospitality industry, where it adds 67,000 new jobs, almost one in three of the new ones created in the general Social Security system. Administrative activities, commerce, manufacturing and construction follow at a distance.
In seasonally adjusted terms, that is, applying the calendar effect, affiliation grows by almost 48,000 people, and the total exceeds 20.7 million for the first time. In the first five months of the year as a whole, 468,000 new affiliates have been registered, which is the best January-March period in the historical series.
On the other hand, the effects of the labor reform continue to be felt, and the historical minimum of 14% of affiliates with a temporary contract is maintained compared to 86% with an indefinite one. The drop in temporary employment among young people is especially significant, with a rate that has dropped from 53% before the labor reform to the current 21%.
Regarding unemployment, it fell by 49,260 people and stood at a total of 2,739,000 registered unemployed. As we indicated, it is the lowest figure in a month of May since 2008, and unemployment falls in all the autonomous communities and in all economic sectors. It is in services where it is most reduced, with 34,000 fewer unemployed, followed by industry, construction and agriculture.
By age groups, it is worth noting that unemployment among those under 25 years of age decreased by 7,200 people compared to the previous month, which leads to a total of 188,000 unemployed young people, the lowest figure in the entire historical series.
“There is more employment and less unemployment, which is reduced by almost 50,000 people in May. It is a general decrease that occurs in all the autonomous communities, in all economic activities, between men and women and in all age groupsâ€, highlighted the Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda DÃaz.
On the other hand, permanent contracts maintain their resilience, with 625,000 permanent contracts, which represent 44% of the total number of those registered this month. Of these contracts, 40% are full-time, 37% permanent and the rest 22% part-time.
In conclusion, the data for both the increase in registration and the reduction in unemployment are very good, although a nuance can be added, since they are not as good as in the same month in previous years. May is traditionally very positive in terms of employment, and this time the increase in registrations is somewhat below the average for the months of May in the pre-pandemic period (2014-2019), when it stood at 213,000 new contributors and the drop in unemployment is half of that period, when it fell on average by 104,000 people. It is the element that the CEOE uses to warn that “the reduction in unemployment could have reached a ceiling, a fact that is very worrying in its case since in Spain unemployment stands at 2,739,000 people”.
