The unemployment rate stood at 13.78% in the Valencian Community in the first quarter of the year. They are 25 tenths above the end of 2022, after increasing the number of unemployed by 5,300 people, 1.53%, to 352,500.
The Active Population Survey known this Thursday also reveals that the number of employed persons decreased by 12,200, 0.55%, and placed the total figure at 2,206,300, with which the activity rate is 58.91%, according to data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) published this Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Compared to the first quarter of 2022, the number of unemployed has increased by 34,600 people in the Valencian Community, which represents an increase of 10.90%, while the total number of employed persons has risen by 50,600 people, 2.35%. further.
In this regard, the reading that unions and union organizations make is different. On the one hand, the company, through the Business Confederation of the Valencian Community, makes a negative assessment because “the active population is decreasing, the number of employed is decreasing and the number of unemployed is increasing”, points out Esther Guilabert, general secretary of CEV .
In this scenario, Guilabert recalls that it is the service sector that has driven unemployment throughout the Valencian Community, for which he insists on “the urgent need to support the branches and companies most burdened over time by high energy costs and other inputs”.
For its part, for the CCOO-PV this is the time to talk about the quality of employment: “It is necessary to increase active employment policies aimed at correcting the effects of poor quality employment, which pay special attention to the reality of women, young people and long-term unemployed peopleâ€, points out Juan Carlos Gallart, employment secretary of the union.
Likewise, from CCOO-PV they attack the employers, which they accuse of blocking the V Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC). “The purchasing power of the working class is greatly devalued and this is already having a clear negative effect on consumption and aggregate demand,” he added. For his part, Calero pointed out that the inflationary crisis resulting from the war of Ukraine “is particularly and very importantly affecting the whole of the working class.”
In addition, it has denounced that there is “a part” of the increase in prices that is motivated “by an attempt by certain employers, by many businessmen, to benefit from a conjunctural situation to increase costs and benefits”. Therefore, he has claimed that there is a distribution of benefits and a recovery of the purchasing power of workers.
