- Most annual employment is created in the private and full-time sector and more than half is open-ended
- During the first semester, employment grew at an annual rate of 2.9%, a rate similar to that of a year ago
- The number of households with all their members unemployed drops to 163,800, to a total of 1.49 million
The Spanish economy created 434,400 jobs in the last 12 months, according to data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) corresponding to the second quarter of the year, as published by the National Statistics Institute (INE). This figure represents an employment growth of 2.43% per year and places the total number of employed persons at 18.3 million. Most of the employment that has been created in the last year is in the private and full-time sector and more than half is permanent. Unemployment falls by 574,300 people, to a total of 4,574 million, which reduces the unemployment rate to 20%, 2.37 points less than a year ago. The number of households with all their members unemployed fell by 163,800, bringing the total number to 1.49 million.
EPA data for the second quarter show that the Spanish economy maintains an intense rate of job creation and a sharp reduction in unemployment. The annual variation figure is the one that eliminates the seasonality factor and indicates that, considering the first half of 2016, employment grew at a rate of 2.9% compared to the same period of the previous year, a rate very similar to that of of the first six months of 2015. For its part, in the second quarter of the current year, 271,400 jobs were created compared to the first, with an increase of 1.51%. The total number of employed persons thus rises to 18.3 million, a figure that, at current rates, will reach 20 million employed persons by the end of 2019, as foreseen in the Stability Program.
Most of the employment created during the last year is concentrated in the private sector. Specifically, 395,700 people have found a job in private companies in the last twelve months, while 38,700 have found it in the public sphere. In the second quarter, there was an increase in employment by 294,600 in the private sector and a drop of 23,200 in the public sector. The sectors with the highest increase in annual employment are services, followed by agriculture, while it has decreased in construction and less in industry. Employment in the services sector also rose in the quarter, followed by construction and industry, while it fell in agriculture.
Regarding the quality of salaried employment, more than half have been created indefinitely, with a total of 223,300 new jobs in the last year, compared to 202,200 temporary ones. In the quarter, fixed assets increased by 86,400 compared to 166,300 when the temporary ones rose. The temporary rate was 25.72%, 63 hundredths higher than that of a year earlier. All employment created in the last year is full-time with an increase of 451,500, compared to a drop of 17,100 in part-time. There was also an increase in full-time employment (301,100 people) and a drop in part-time (29,800) in the quarter.
Unemployment has decreased by 574,300 people in the last year, which represents a drop of 11.15% and places the total number of unemployed at 4,574 million people, the lowest level since the end of 2009. In the quarter, unemployment it is reduced by 216,700 people, which is 4.52% less than in the first three months of 2016. The unemployment rate thus stands at 20%, the lowest since the third quarter of 2010. In relation to one year, the percentage of unemployed over the active population has been cut by 2.37 points.
Among people who lost their jobs more than a year ago, unemployment has decreased by 107,900 in the quarter, although it increases by 40,800 among those seeking their first job. In the year, both groups have decreased. The unemployed who lost their jobs more than a year ago fell by 427,300 and those who are looking for their first job, by 88,900. The number of households with at least one active member in which all of them are unemployed has also decreased by 163,800 in the last year, to a total of 1.49 million households in this situation. Households with all their active members occupied have grown by 368,600, to a total of 9.66 million.
