- 363,300 jobs were lost in the fourth quarter of 2012, 14,500 more than in the same period of 2011
- The temporary employment rate has decreased two points in the last year, to 23%
According to the estimates of the Labor Force Survey (EPA) prepared by the INE, in the last quarter of 2012 employment decreased by 363,300 people compared to the previous quarter. In the last year 850,500 jobs have been lost, 4.8%. Regarding unemployment, the number of unemployed increased by 187,300 people in the fourth quarter, a figure that is slightly more than 108,000 people lower than that registered in the same period of the previous year. The unemployment rate increases one point, to 26.02% and the total number of people without work rises to 5,965,400.
From a sectoral perspective, the destruction of jobs in the last quarter of 2012 especially affected the service sector, whose occupancy level decreased by 305,600 employees, 84.1% of the decrease in total employment. Construction and industry followed at a great distance, with quarter-on-quarter reductions of 62,900 and 58,500, respectively. In contrast, there was an increase of 63,700 jobs in agriculture.
Once adjusted for seasonal factors, the total employment figures show a loss that would be around 224,000 employed, with a drop rate of -1.3%, somewhat higher than that registered in the previous quarter (-1.01% ).
Considering the stability of employment, it is observed that the loss of salaried employment affected both temporary and permanent workers, but the first group suffered it with much more intensity. Temporary workers decreased by 216,600 in the quarter and by 91,100 those employed with permanent contracts.
Compared to a year earlier, workers with permanent contracts decreased by -3.6%, moderating their rate of decline by one tenth, while workers with temporary contracts increased this rate by one tenth, down to -13.5% . After this result, the temporary rate falls by one percentage point, to 23%, which represents a two-point cut over the past year.
According to the working day, those employed full-time decreased at an annual rate of 6.5%, while those on part-time contracts increased to 5.7%, rates that represent an intensification of the fall of 0.6 points in the first group and an improvement of almost 2 points in the second. After this result, the weight of part-time workers increased by almost one point in the quarter and 1.5 points compared to a year earlier, to 15.3%, a rate that is a record high.
The active population decreased by 176,000 people in the third quarter, representing a variation rate of -0.8%. When correcting for seasonality, this rate drops to -0.6%, lower than the advance of the previous quarter (0.1%). Compared to a year earlier, the active population decreased by 158,800 people, -0.7%, compared to -0.2% in the previous quarter.
The decrease in the active population responds to a decrease in the population (116,800 people less than in the third quarter within the age range between 16 and 64 years) and, to a lesser extent, to a slight reduction of about three tenths, of the activity rate, which stood at 59.8%, a decrease that responds to the activity rate of men and young people under 25 years of age. Both the decline in the population and the number of assets derive entirely from the loss of the foreign population, given that the national population has remained stable in both cases. In contrast, the foreign population over the age of 16 has fallen at an annual rate of 3.65% and within it, assets, at 5%.
Unemployment increases by 187,300 people (89,300 when seasonally adjusted), a figure slightly more than 108,000 people lower than that registered in the same period in 2011. With this, the total number of unemployed stands at 5,965,400 people. The unemployment rate increases by one point, to 26% of the active population. When working with destacionalized data, this rate rises to 26.1%, 0.5 points above that of the previous quarter. After this information, the average unemployment rate in 2012 would amount to 25%.
These results indicate that the fourth quarter of 2012 was the one with the lowest growth of the year, as evidenced by the advance published by the Bank of Spain, which points to a quarter-on-quarter drop in GDP of -0.6%. This will be, predictably, the worst quarter of the current recessionary phase of the Spanish economy, concentrating the effects of various adjustment measures. The Government expects, however, that the easing of the contractionary path of the GDP throughout 2013 will benefit the evolution of employment and this will tend to stabilize throughout the current year.