Unemployment among those entering the labor market suffers the highest increase since 2012

• Employment grows by 88,900 people in February but 11,800 young people are unemployed after the rise in the SMI

in

Spain grew by 2,618 people in February, but

-that is, all those who have never worked in the country before and seek to join the labor market-

last month, the

for that collective in the second month of the year since

.

February

is not a month in which many young people traditionally enter the labor market, as is the case in the months of

when the school year ends and students sign up for the lists of the Public State Employment Service ( SEPE) to find a summer job.

However, this year

, which in turn has caused

While for this group of young people unemployment has grown by

, for those over 25 there has been a decrease of 9,244 unemployed, according to data published this Thursday by the Ministries of Labor and Social Security.

With this rebound, the number of people under 25 registered for unemployment rose to

which places

as the European Union (EU) country with the

in January , compared to

, according to data also published this Thursday by Eurostat.

The

has admitted that the increase is unusual, but says it

"We want to study in detail why this increase in unemployed people occurred in the previous month. We

especially because it was at a different time than the end of the school year, which is when it usually occurs ", recognized the Secretary of State for Employment,

has been published

that requires registration with the employment services to apply for it, something that could have encouraged the group to sign up.

However, experts consulted by this newspaper find

a more convincing explanation in

and measures such as the rise in the

Florentino Felgueroso

, a

researcher who is an expert in the labor market, believes that "behind this there is a component of

but also a demographic issue, due to the

-those born during the housing bubble - and by the increase in the active

population ; since they have not worked before, it only implies that they have not worked in our country but may come from another".

Valentín Bote,

director of

, recalls that the increase in the

to

, approved last month and with retroactive effect from January 1, has also had an impact by reducing the ability of young people to enter the labor market.

"

with a lower level of qualification, because they normally do not have work experience that can offset the lack of training. This phenomenon is more serious in communities with lower average salaries, since in them the SMI already is well above 60% of the average salary," he points out.

"It is still a phenomenon to watch, to see if the negative trend consolidates,

he stresses.

At

they believe that "despite the fact that the incidence of SMI among young people is higher and possibly the increase in this could

", it is too early to draw conclusions.

"The data for February are not conclusive in this regard. According to our estimates, discounting the seasonality of the period,

(made up mainly of young people) would have been

who, in any case, have been

(3,400) and are consistent with the growth observed since June of last year (2,000 on a monthly average)", they explain.

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• SEPE

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• Articles Alejandra Olcese