• Unanimity among experts on unemployment data: "They are distorted"

Unemployment fell by 33,512 people

in

November

to the

lowest level

for this month since

2007

, figures that point to the good performance of the labor market compared to economic growth -which is still below the levels prior to the pandemic-, but which are

involved in doubts

due to the controversy about how permanent-intermittent workers without activity are classified.

This is the

second largest drop in unemployment

in the entire historical series for this month, which leaves the number of

unemployed

in the country at

2,881,380

, according to data released this Friday by the Public State Employment Service (

SEPE

).

The problem is that

this statistic does not include

among the registered unemployed those who have this type of contract promoted by the

labor reform

and who are in a

period of inactivity

and receiving -in some cases-

the unemployment benefit

.

And, although they do not appear among the registered unemployed because they are not exactly so, the problem is that they do not appear broken down anywhere else either.

The statistics do point out that there has been an

increase

in the month of November

of 110,697 people

who

demand a new job being employed

and there are both fixed-discontinuous without activity, as well as those employed with a job who want to change jobs, such as those affected by a Temporary Employment Regulation File (ERTE).

Until the Job Seekers Statistics is published, it will be unknown how many of them are permanent-intermittently inactive.

Given the doubts about the reliability of the unemployment data first planted by the Fundación de Estudios de Economía Aplicada (

Fedea

, the largest independent

think tank

) and later supported by different study services in the country, it is preferable to analyze the data from

affiliation to Social Security

, which in November

fell by 155 people.

This means that, in terms of registrations and withdrawals of workers from Social Security, last month was -with the exception of the pandemic years, 2020 and 2021-

the best November since 2015,

as the Minister of Security had already announced. Social, José Luis Escrivá, in the middle of the month.

With this decrease in the number of workers, the total number of

affiliates

in the country stands at

20,283,630,

according to data also released today.

2,800 less self-employed workers and loss of 101,700 affiliates in the hospitality industry

The good performance of the affiliation is a sign that employment is resisting despite the economic environment of uncertainty, the slowdown in economic growth and high inflation.

"

The affiliation continues to pull

, and therefore

it cannot be said that the labor market is falling.

The registered unemployment data is always more difficult to interpret as a barometer of the situation. And it is true that this

has become

more complicated with the

increase in fixed -discontinuous, a group that, due to the lack of work, is classified as inactive,"

Raymond Torres

, director of the

Funcas

Economic Situation , pointed out to this outlet this morning

.

Although in average terms the number of affiliates fell slightly, in some sectors important fluctuations are detected, such as in the hotel and

catering industry

, where

101,751 jobs

were lost (in this drop in affiliation all the fixed-discontinuous ones that have passed from the activity to inactivity).

On the contrary, the sector with the highest number of workers has been

education

, with the incorporation of

27,670 people.

By regimes,

2,801 self-employed workers have been lost

in the month, while in the General Regime there has been a

loss of 5,166 jobs

that has been offset by the

gain of 6,674 jobs in agriculture

and

2,360 new household employees.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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