- Unemployment is reduced by 653,200 people, 12% less, with declines in all sectors of the economy
- The temporary employment rate falls in the first quarter of the year to 25.04% after the rise in indefinite hiring
- Households with all their unemployed members are reduced by 182,700 and those with all employed increase by 419,000
Data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) for the first quarter of the year show that the economic recovery continues to move strongly to the labor market. According to data made public by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), employment increased in the last twelve months by 574,800 people, representing an increase of 3.29%, three tenths more than in the previous quarter. The total number of employed persons stands at 18,029,600 people. For its part, unemployment has decreased in the same period by 653,200 people, 12% less. The unemployment rate increases one tenth in the quarter and stands at 21% of the active population.
The data for the first quarter of the year, which is usually negative for employment due to seasonal factors, reflects a lower job destruction than that which occurred in the same period of the previous year. In the first three months of 2016 the Spanish economy lost 64,600 jobs, when last year the fall was 114,300. This explains that in the whole of the year there has been an acceleration in the rate of job creation. Regarding unemployment, the increase was 11,900 people in the first quarter of the year, when in the same period of 2015 the fall was 13,100.
The labor market figures are consistent with the growth of the Spanish economy, which started the year with a cruising speed of around 3%. The pace of job creation has accelerated in the last year, with 574,800 people employed, a growth of 3.29%, the highest rate since the third quarter of 2007. The number of employees has increased in the services sector ( 503,500 more people), in agriculture (60,000) and in industry (40,300). On the contrary, it has fallen in construction, with a fall of 29,000 occupied. 89% of last year's job creation occurs in the private sector and the rest in the public. In the quarter, employment has increased in the industry, but has decreased in services, construction and agriculture.
The number of full-time workers has increased by 580,600 in the last year, while the number of part-time employees has decreased by 5,800. In the quarter, full-time and part-time employment has fallen by 51,700, by 12,900. Meanwhile, indefinite employment has increased in the last twelve months by 197,700 people and temporary employment by 343,600 people. In the quarter, undefined jobs increased by 52,400 and temporary jobs fell by 106,000. The temporary employment rate is reduced 62 hundredths in the quarter, to 25.04%.
Regarding unemployment, the unemployment rate has stood at 21% this quarter, a decrease of 2.78 points in the year, with a drop in the number of unemployed workers of 653,200 people. In the quarter, the number of unemployed rises by 11,900 people to reach 4,791,400. The biggest falls in unemployment are concentrated in Andalusia (170,000 less) and Catalonia (98,100 less). Unemployment has been reduced in the last twelve months by 466,600 people in the group that has been seeking employment for more than a year and 107,200 people among those seeking their first job. In the quarter, unemployment drops by 66,700 among people who lost it more than a year ago and 36,800 among those seeking the first job. All sectors of the economy reduce their level of unemployment in the last year: in the Industry there are 22,700 fewer unemployed; in Agriculture, 21,900; in the Services, 19,900; and in Construction, 14,900.
The number of households that have all their members unemployed has fallen in the last year by 182,700, to 1.61 million homes. For their part, households with all their employed members have increased by 419,000 in the year, to 9.51 million. In the quarter, households with all their active members unemployed increased by 54,300 and those with all active members occupied occupied by 20,000.
