Three years after the labor reform, the temporality continues to dominate new hires in the Catalan industry. According to data collected by the Department of Business and Labor of the Generalitat of Catalonia, 73% of contracts signed between January and September 2024 were temporary. Of the 265,610 Social Security registrations recorded in the sector, 194,357 were temporary and 71,253 for an indefinite period.
In addition, four out of ten new contracts had a duration of less than or equal to one month5% more than those recorded at the same period of the previous year. On the other hand, permanent contracts in industry decreased by 1.4% compared to the first nine months of 2023.
For the rest, 24% of contracts had a duration of between one month and six months, 1% exceeded six months and 8% had an indefinite duration. The information published by the ministry comes from the Labor Force Survey (LFS) for the third quarter of the year.
A ministry spokesperson consulted by elEconomista.es recognizes that In the industry, there is a “certain duality”: “On the one hand, there are very stable workers who have employment relationships of indefinite duration and, on the other hand, there is a group of workers who are those who suffer from this temporary nature of hiring .”
Dependence on ETTs
It also happens that the majority of temporary workers were recruited via temporary employment companies (ETT)more precisely 59.9%. This is a much higher percentage than in the Catalan economy, where only 18.5% of positions were filled by this type of specialized companies.
Despite these data, the temporary employment rate in the sectorwhich shows temporary workers per 100 employees, not only has decreased since the entry into force of the labor reformbut it is lower than that of the entire productive fabric. This apparent contradiction could be attributed to the pressing labor needs faced by factories in the face of peaks in demand. These fluctuations do not occur with such intensity in other sectors whose demand is more predictable.
“In the third quarter of 2021, the temporary employment rate in industry was around 16% and 17%, but it gradually declined until it consolidated below that of the economy as a whole,” explains the Ministry of Commerce and Labor. . At the end of the third quarter, the temporary employment rate in industry was 6.6%, while that of the economy as a whole was 12.6%.
This does not mean that the industry uses temporary contracts more than permanent contracts. Even so, if between January and September 2021 89% of new contracts in the industry were temporary, over the same period this year this typology contracted to 73%.
Less industrial unemployment
The industrial sector employs 635,200 people in Catalonia, which is equivalent to 16.5% of the community’s total employment. Compared to the previous quarter, the manufacturing sector lost 900 jobs, an imperceptible drop of 0.1%.
The most significant declines were observed in extractive industries, energy, water and waste (-9.4%), as well as in food, textiles, wood, paper and graphic arts (-4.8%). On the other hand, metallurgy is growing considerably (+15.4%).
The progress of the segments changes if the high beams are on. Over one year, the industry recorded a loss of 12,600 employees (-1.9%), with notable declines in food, textiles, wood, paper and graphic arts (-14%; 29,300 of less), as well as in metallurgy (- 9.8%, 7,500 fewer).
On the other hand, extractive industries, energy, water and waste (+18.9%; 6,400 more) and machinery, electrical equipment and transport (+7.8%; 15,900 more) showed a more positive dynamic.
At the end of September 2024, the number of unemployed in the sector was 34,841, or 10.4% of total unemployment in the region. In one year, industrial unemployment fell by 5.9%a much stronger decline than that recorded for the entire regional economy (-1%), thus continuing a positive trend that began in May 2023.
In the second quarter of 2024, the The ordinary wage cost in the industry amounts to 2,454.12 euros345.97 euros more than the average for all sectors (excluding agriculture). Compared to the previous year, the ordinary salary increased by 5.9%, an increase three points higher than that of Catalonia as a whole.
