Employment in Spain grew in May by 200,400 Social Security affiliates, a third of which were in the hospitality sector; while unemployment registered the lowest drop for a month of May since 2012 -not counting 2020-, according to data published this Friday by the Ministries of Social Security and Labor.
The number of Social Security affiliates grew by 200,411 people, 7.4% less than the average growth in the five years prior to the pandemic, when an average of 216,634 jobs were added in that month, and also less than what which picked up last year (213,643) and the previous year (211,923). Only in 2020, due to the impact of the pandemic and the confinements, employment in May performed worse, with the creation of only 97,462 jobs.
The jobs created last month allowed total affiliation to Social Security to reach 20.81 million contributors, a new all-time record, which means that Spain today has 582,676 more employees than a year ago. The behavior of employment is very positive, although it must be taken into account that the hours worked in the country do not evolve at the same rate.
Of the 200,400 jobs created in May, 34% corresponded to the hospitality sector, which was the sector that increased employment the most for the second consecutive month, due to the drag of Holy Week and the imminent start of the high season in many areas. tourist. Half of these new jobs in this sector were in restaurants and the other half in accommodation services.
In particular, in the General Scheme, the hotel industry was responsible for 67,315 new wage earners last month (the next fastest growing sector was administrative and auxiliary activities, with 20,930 new affiliates, and later, the manufacturing industry, with 11,136 jobs) and in the Self-Employed Regime, the number of hoteliers grew by 1,609, followed by professional and technical activities (1,209) and construction (1,168).
In seasonally adjusted terms -modifying the data to put us in a scenario in which every month of the year were equally positive for employment in Spain-, last month 47,883 jobs would have been created, the smallest increase so far this year and which could indicate the beginning of the slowdown in the labor market, although a positive fact because jobs are still being created in the country.
In the first five months of the year, 519,129 jobs have been created in Spain, an unparalleled figure for this period which, if maintained, would mean closing the year with more than one million new jobs. Last year, which was already very positive for the labor market, 471,359 jobs were created throughout the year.
The dynamism of the labor market is breaking all records, especially in a context of economic slowdown, with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 0.5% in the first quarter and a forecast that it will slow down throughout the year .
Together with the Social Security affiliation data, the Ministry of Labor has today published the registered unemployment data at the offices of the Public State Employment Service (SEPE), which show that unemployment fell in the month of May but less than in the last eleven years if 2020 is not counted.
Specifically, the number of unemployed registered on the SEPE lists fell by 49,260 people, while last year in this same month it had decreased by 99,512 -almost double- and in 2021, by 129,3778. This decrease allowed the total number of unemployed in the country to stand at 2,739 million, the lowest figure since 2008 in a month of May.
The reduction in unemployment occurred in all sectors, all autonomous communities and in men and women. In addition, the rate of monthly percentage decline in unemployment among young people doubles the general rate: it fell by 7,208 young unemployed (3.69% less), bringing the total number of unemployed under 25s to 188,043, a minimum of the historical series, according to the Ministry.
In the Services sector, unemployment fell by 34,665 people (-1.74%), in Industry by 4,622 people (-2.07%), in Construction with 3,896 less unemployed (-1.82%) and Agriculture has 2,501 fewer people unemployed (-2.30%). The Previously Unemployed group also points to a drop of 3,576 unemployed people (-1.41%).
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
