August saw a slowdown in employment after the signs of July. The end of the summer season arrived with nearly 200,000 fewer Social Security members, the worst August since 2019. But the outlook is even bleaker if we analyze the summer as a whole: Between May and August, 132,392 jobs were destroyedYou have to go back to 2008 to find worse data.
At the beginning of the Great RecessionSpain lost 272,085 jobs between May and August, compared to 17,000 in the same period in 2007. In previous years, the dynamic had been positive. With the crisis, they have continued to record net job losses almost every summer.even if the intensity has moderated.
This year is the worst since 2008, but it does nothing but continue a trend observable from 2022with the approval of the labor reform. Something similar also happened in 2019, a year of clear employment growth, when between May and August, Social Security lost 121,886 affiliates.
However, both 2019 and the three-year period 2022-2024 are years of improvement in the labour market. In other words, these bad summers – at least according to members’ figures – do not translate into bad years; or they have not done so until now. Between January and August this year, more than half a million jobs were createddespite the losses of the summer period.
Therefore, the August data, as well as the cumulative data from the summer, serve as a warning. In a labor market that has undergone profound transformation and growth in recent years, a slightly worse summer than the previous one is not in itself a drama, but the data in themselves are negative and, added to what was observed in July, they ignite the sign of a caution still moderate.
To slow down
Funcas warned of slowdown in employment growthespecially in the service sector, according to the Social Security affiliation data for August. Although in the seasonally adjusted data there was an increase of 35,000 employed people, this loss of 193,704 affiliates on average was recorded.
The services sector, particularly hospitality, saw lower growth in membership in July and August compared to previous years. Funcas suggests that this change could be due to a new seasonal hiring modelbringing forward incorporations to the spring.
Industry remains stable, while construction shows signs of improvement after a difficult start to the year. However, Unemployment decline has moderated since Maywith a seasonally adjusted decline of only 2,200 people in August.
This new hiring model in the hotel sector, explains Funcas, could meet the needs of companies safe work in a context of shortage, which leads to bringing forward hiring and reducing the summer employment peak.
