• Employment Authorizations for foreigners break record since 2012, mostly for domestic service and the field

August has resulted in the destruction of 185,385 jobs, a fall in Social Security affiliation similar to that which has always occurred this month, with one in three jobs lost in the education sector. Unemployment, meanwhile, has increased by 24,826 people, which leaves this month as the second best August in the last seven years.

According to data published on Monday by the Ministries of Social Security and Labor, the fall in affiliation is slightly higher than that which has occurred in other Augusts; For example, in the years prior to the pandemic (2014-2019) the average loss of jobs was 162,000, but in the same 2019 it was higher (of 212,984 positions) and it was also last year (of 189,963).

With this decrease in the number of employees in the country, the total number of affiliates stands at 20,706,500.

Education has been the main sector responsible for the bad data of the month, since one in three jobs lost (about 61,500) have occurred in this area of activity due to the tradition of terminating contracts in the summer months to avoid paying payroll during the holidays, as is the case with the rest of the sectors.

In total, Education has 59,407 fewer salaried employees and 2,069 fewer self-employed than in July, which add to the loss of 110,700 positions that occurred the previous month in the same branch. More than 170,000 people have taken to the streets in the two summer months.

Although teaching has registered the worst data, the loss of affiliates in construction (-17,262. due to the stoppage of works), in administrative and auxiliary activities (-17,069, due to the closure of companies in August and the dismissal that also occurs of administrative to not pay vacations) and in the manufacturing industry is also striking. (-15,501, due to the collapse in international orders due to weak demand from our European partners). Although the loss of jobs in August is usually attributed to the end of the tourist season, the truth is that the hotel industry -restaurants and accommodation- only destroyed 1,333 positions.

There has been a fall in the number of workers in all major sectors: services have lost 136,535 average members; 18,768 have stopped working in construction; There are 15,934 fewer in industry and 14,148 less in agriculture, livestock and fishing. The latter is the sector that accumulates the strongest loss of employees compared to a year ago, of 16,621 workers, due to the climatic difficulties that the field has gone through this year.

As for the regime, the number of wage earners has fallen in August by 174,380 people and 10,945 self-employed have been lost. In this last group, commerce has been the blackest sector, with 2,015 businesses closed compared to July, so that in year-on-year terms the bleeding is accentuated and there are already 17,427 self-employed lost.

There has been a fairly similar evolution of employment by gender, with 94,852 posts occupied by women and 90,532 by men destroyed. Asturias, the Canary Islands, Cantabria and Extremadura are the only regions that created employment in the month.

Second best August in 7 years for unemployment

As for the unemployment registered in the offices of the State Public Employment Service (SEPE), in August there has been an increase of 24,826 people, the second mildest in the last seven years in this month.

The number of unemployed now stands at 2,702,700 people, its lowest level in an August since 2008, but rises again from the 2.7 million from which it had fallen in the last two months.

By areas, unemployment has increased in August in all branches except agriculture, as usual, but the decrease (of 2,874 unemployed) has been much lower than that which has occurred in previous years in the countryside: unemployment fell in this sector by 6,690 people in 2022; by 13,499 in 2021; by 13,253 in 2020, and by 6,655 in 2019.

The number of unemployed who had not had a job before – young people who are signing up for the first time to unemployment in search of their first position – has also fallen in August, since 2,672 have managed to enter the labor market.

La Rioja is the only autonomous community in which unemployment decreased slightly in August (49 people went to work), while it rose in the rest, with Catalonia being the community with the largest increase (of 7,516 people), followed by the Valencian Community (3,190) and Andalusia (2,882).

In seasonally adjusted terms -modified the statistics to simulate that all months were the same for job creation-, registered unemployment falls by 23,373 people, while affiliation increases by 17,745, positive data since they indicate that, once discounted the activity of the month, this August would have been profitable for the labor market, as already pointed out by the data of the first fortnight.

  • Social security
  • SEPE
  • Employment
  • Unemployment