- In the last year 835,900 jobs (4.6%) have been lost, a figure lower than that of the previous quarter
- The unemployment rate increases to 25%, four tenths more than in the second quarter
The number of employed persons decreased by 96,900 people in the third quarter of this year, which represents a fall of 0.6% in relation to the previous quarter, according to data from the Labor Force Survey (EPA) published today by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The number of unemployed increased by 85,000 people, to 5,778 million, and the unemployment rate rose to 25% of the working population, four tenths more than in the previous quarter.
Compared to a year earlier, 835,900 jobs were destroyed, representing a loss of 4.6%. Both in terms of lost job volume and variation rate, the data for the third quarter are somewhat better than those registered in the second in year-on-year terms (885,700 and -4.84%). The stability of the quarter-on-quarter rate of decline and the relative improvement in the annual rate could be pointing to the start of a moderation phase in the destruction of employment.
From a sectoral perspective, the destruction of jobs in the third quarter especially affected construction (56,100), services (32,700) and, to a lesser extent, agriculture (11,900), while industry recorded a slight increase employment (3,700). When correcting for seasonal variations, all the large non-agricultural sectors continued to destroy employment, especially construction (-5.6%), while agriculture registered a positive rate of 1.73%. Except in the case of construction, the rates of job destruction were attenuated at a seasonally adjusted quarterly rate.
In relation to a year earlier, the only sector that intensified the year-on-year rate of employment decline was construction (-17.1%); while services and industry moderated it. For its part, agriculture improved 1.8%.
By type of employment, non-salaried workers increased by 3.7% annually, while total salaried workers fell by 6.2%. Employees with a permanent contract fell by 179,400 in the quarter, while those with a temporary contract rose by 15,300. Over the previous year, the permanent ones fell by 3.7%, (3.5% in the third quarter of 2011) and the temporary ones fell by 13.4% (seven tenths less than a year earlier). The temporary employment rate stood at 24%, almost four tenths more than at the end of the previous quarter and two points below that of the third quarter of 2011.
According to working hours, full-time employed persons decreased at an annual rate of 5.9% (5.7% last quarter) while those with part-time contracts increased 3.8% (0.5% the quarter). past). After this result, part-time employment stood at 14.4%, half a point less than in the previous quarter and 1.2 points above the rate a year ago.
The classification in the public / private sector indicates that the former continued to intensify the adjustment, with a year-on-year rate of decline of 7.1% (-5.5% in the previous quarter), while in the private sector the pace of retracement softened to -4.1%. In fact, excluding those employed in the public sector, job destruction slowed considerably more, six tenths instead of two. In the seasonally adjusted quarterly rate, when taking only the private employed, the drop was 0.6%, while the drop in public employees reached 2.9%.
The active population decreased by 12,000 people in the quarter (-0.1%), but seasonally adjusted increased 0.1%. Compared to a year earlier, the active population fell by 36,200 people (0.2%), a decrease that mainly responds to a decrease in the number of inhabitants since the activity rate remained at 60.1%. When broken down by sex, the greatest loss of the active population corresponded to men, mainly to foreign workers.
The number of households in which all its members are unemployed has remained at 1.74 million, compared to the increase of more than 9,300 in the previous quarter.
These results indicate that the weakness of economic activity continues but, unlike the previous four quarters in which the rate of job destruction intensified, this time there is a certain stabilization.
It is expected that signs of improvement will begin to appear in the labor market as economic activity slows down. To achieve this, economic policy must continue to correct the important economic and financial imbalances in the Spanish economy, with the implementation of the ongoing structural reform program and with the consolidation of public accounts at all levels of the Administration.