- Job destruction moderates in Q2
- The Spanish economy lost 15,900 employed persons between April and June compared to 374,300 in the previous quarter
- The unemployment rate increases to 24.63%, at a slower rate than in the previous quarters
- Fixed hiring and part-time employment increase while the temporary rate falls to 23.7%
The Active Population Survey (EPA) for the second quarter that the National Institute of Statistics (INE) has published today reflects a decrease in employment of 15,900 people, a decrease of 0.09 points compared to the previous quarter. The unemployment rate rises 0.19 points, to 24.63% with an increase in the number of unemployed of 53,500 people compared to the previous quarter. The total number of unemployed reaches 5,693,100.
These data show that the weakening of the Spanish economy has continued in the second quarter, although the evolution of the labor market is less negative than in the previous three quarters. Thus, the destruction of 15,900 jobs in the second quarter of this year contrasts with 374,300 in the first and 348,800 at the end of 2011, all at quarter-on-quarter rates. The unemployment rate has continued to increase, albeit at a slower pace: 0.19 points in the second quarter of 2012, compared to 1.59 in the first quarter and 1.33 in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Regarding employment according to its origin, highlight a different behavior between the private and public sectors. Thus, in the second quarter of the year there was a loss of 41,000 employees in the Public Administrations, while in the private sector a quarter-on-quarter advance was reported in some 25,000 people.
From a sectoral point of view, the destruction of jobs affected agriculture (-44,000) and industry (-21,000), while employment was created in construction (6,200) and in the service sector (42,800). The second quarter of each year is a period that is usually positive for the service sector, especially for tourism. This year also creates employment in the sector, although a lower rate than in previous years. It should be noted that although tourism-related activities benefit from a favorable seasonal component, those related to agriculture do so in the opposite direction.
By type of employment relationship, workers with a permanent contract amounted to 10.99 million people, 4,400 more than in the previous quarter (0.04%). The workers with temporary contracts were 3.40 million, 18,300 fewer people (0.53% less). Compared to a year earlier, workers with permanent contracts have decreased at an annual rate of 3.5%, the same as in the previous quarter, while workers with temporary contracts have intensified their fall, to 12.7%. The temporary employment rate stood at 23.7%, one tenth less than in the first quarter of the year.
Part-time employment increased by 94,300 people in the quarter, while the number of full-time employed persons decreased by 110,300. The percentage of people who work part-time increases half a point, to 14.93%.
In seasonally adjusted terms, employment decreased by 176,000 people, which implies a drop of 1%, a rate that represents an improvement compared to the previous quarter (-1.55%). Regarding the unemployment rate, it rises to 24.7% also in seasonally adjusted terms, 0.9 points above that of the previous quarter.
These results reflect that the weakness of economic activity has continued in the second quarter. As for the effects of this on the labor market, it is foreseeable that they will fade as the latest labor reform produces the expected results. However, there are some favorable aspects such as the inflection in the fall in employment in its year-on-year rate in seasonally adjusted terms, which drops to -1% compared to -1.55% in the previous quarter. Finally, non-public job creation is observed, indicating that the adjustment in employment in the private sector is softening. Likewise, part-time hiring opens a way to recover employment to take into account.