The first quarter of the year is always bad in terms of employment and 2023 is no exception, albeit in moderation. There are 103,800 more unemployed, it is true, and this is the most negative part; but employment is down by only 11,100 people, which represents the lowest loss of jobs in a first quarter since 2007, a sign of the resilience of the labor market.
How to explain this apparent contradiction? Due to the increase in the active population, that which has or is looking for work. If this active population increases and not all those newly incorporated into the labor market find employment, the number of unemployed rises. This is what happened this quarter, in which the active population increased by 92,000 people, so the increase in unemployment is largely due to the entry of new people into the labor market.
Going into details, from January to March there are 103,800 more unemployed than the previous quarter, according to the Active Population Survey (EPA), which was published by the INE yesterday. In this way, a total of 3,127,800 unemployed are added and the unemployment rate rises to 13.26%. In the analysis by sector, unemployment increases in services, with 147,000 more unemployed, followed at a distance by construction and industry; and instead, it decreases in agriculture.
In terms of job creation, the data is better. It is true that it goes down, but only slightly. There are 11,100 less employed people this first quarter compared to the previous one, and the total number of employed people stands at 20,452,800 people. This destruction of employment is one of the lowest recorded in recent years in a first quarter, which is always bad. Last year, for example, more than 100,000 jobs were destroyed in this quarter. It is an occupation that is basically lost in the private sector, in which 8,800 jobs disappear, while in the public sector they have been reduced by 2,300.
The Ministry of the Economy states that "the very positive trend" of the labor market is "confirmed", despite the external conditions. According to the First Vice-President and Minister of the Economy, Nadia Calviño, "the first quarter of the year is a quarter that normally has this behavior for seasonal reasons, but when the data is seasonally adjusted we also see a favorable evolution of unemployment in a context in which the active population is growing strongly".
The data provided by the INE yesterday also show an improvement in the quality of employment, with 93,000 permanent contracts more than the previous quarter, while temporary contracts fell by 117,000. A second indicator of this improvement in the quality of employment is that the temporary rate has dropped to 17.3%, when a year ago it was 24.2%. It is an improvement that began with the application of the labor reform in January 2022 and that has remained constant. In this area, it is noteworthy that the rate of temporary employment continues to fall much more intensely in the public administration, where it has dropped to 13.7%, while in the private sector it is rising again and is placed at 31 .3%
As for Catalonia, the unemployment rate in the community rose above 10% in the first quarter of the year, something that had not happened for a year. The final figure is 10.37%, less than half a point above the previous 9.91%. The rate is the highest since the end of the summer of 2021, when it stood at 10.92%. The result is given after increasing unemployment by 20,000 people, bringing the total to 407,200 unemployed. It is the lowest figure for the beginning of the year since 2008. Catalonia is the second autonomous community where unemployment has risen the most in absolute numbers between January and March, with Andalusia in the lead (109,700 more unemployed), followed by from the Canary Islands, with 55,900 more.
From CC.OO. and UGT positively assessed the employment and active population data, although they showed their concern about the unemployment figures. "Mechanisms must be found so that the employment offices of our country really become instruments that serve the unemployed", claimed the general secretary of UGT, Pepe Álvarez. For his part, the president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, said that employment "is holding up" during the beginning of the year. In a statement, the employer confirmed that "unemployment remains one of the main challenges of our economy" and asked for measures to support the company from a fiscal and regulatory point of view.
