Employment continues to be strong and shows a very positive behavior during the first five months of the year. May ends with a new record of memberships and a drop in unemployment to 2.7 million people, which is the lowest unemployment figure in a month of May since 2008.
In terms of job creation, the data for May represent a string of three months with a strong increase in the number of affiliates. "For the third month in a row we have exceeded the threshold of 200,000 monthly growth affiliates. These are figures that impress because of the capacity they demonstrate to continue generating employment", stated the Secretary General of Social Security, Borja Suárez, when he presented the data. The 200,411 new jobs created this month bring membership to a total of 20.8 million people, which is the highest number of members ever achieved. There was a record in April, with 20.6 million members, but May has surpassed it.
These are very positive data, although a reservation must be added. May is always a good month in terms of employment and this year's has been below the average levels of previous years. This difference is small in the case of affiliation, because the increase was an average of 213,000 during the 2014-2019 period, in view of the 200,000 this May, but it is more prominent in the decline of unemployment The reduction of 49,000 unemployed this month is half of the average for May of those years; and, furthermore, if it is examined in seasonally adjusted terms, that is to say, correcting for the seasonal and calendar effect, unemployment would increase by 11,900 people. According to Raymond Torres, director of the situation at Funcas, "these are excellent results but indicate a certain moderation".
When membership is examined, it is observed that it increases in all economic activities and especially in hospitality, where 67,000 new jobs are added, almost a third of the new ones created in the general Social Security system. It is followed, at a distance, by administrative activities, trade, manufacturing and construction.
In seasonally adjusted terms, the membership adds up to almost 48,000 people, and the total exceeds 20.7 million people for the first time. In the first five months of the year as a whole, 468,000 new affiliates have been registered, making this the best January-March period of the entire 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 temporary contracts is maintained in view of 86% of indefinite ones. The drop in temporary employment among young people is particularly significant, with a rate that has dropped from 53% before the labor reform to 21% today.
"Hiring young people indefinitely used to be an anomaly, an exotic element; young people were a group always excluded from safe recruitment networks. Today it has become a generalized, normal element", said the Secretary of State for Employment, Joaquín Pérez Rey.
Regarding the unemployment data, last month it fell by 49,260 people and it is placed in 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 is falling in all autonomous communities and in all economic sectors. It is in services where it is reduced the most, with 34,000 fewer unemployed, followed by industry, construction and agriculture.
By age group, it is noteworthy that the unemployment of those under 25 years of age decreased by 7,200 people compared to the previous month, a fact that brings a total of 188,000 unemployed young people, the lowest figure in the entire historical series.
At the time of learning these data, the employer CEOE has focused its attention on results that are below those recorded in the month of May in other years, especially in the drop in unemployment. In this way, they warn that "the reduction in unemployment could have reached a ceiling, a very worrying fact in their case", and they add that "we cannot ignore that an alarming pathology of the Spanish labor market is the persistence of high figures of unemployment, with a marked structural character despite the high membership volumes".
For their part, the unions have highlighted the role of labor reform in achieving higher quality employment. The UGT union speaks of the "excellent impact" of the labor reform in "boosting the standard of living of the population", while CC.OO. highlights that the high weight of indefinite recruitment is maintained and the quality and composition of recruitment is improved.
