Employment increased again in October, after the poor results of recent months. The tenth month of the year, Spain added 134,307 social security affiliates, bringing the total number of contributors to 21.3 million.. However, unemployment also increased and the total number of unemployed rose to 2.6 million people, 26,769 more than a month ago.
This is clear from the data on unemployment and affiliation published this Tuesday by the Ministries of Labor and Social Security. In both cases, the data corresponds to what is normal in the month of Octoberwhile this increase in members is usually compatible with an increase in the number of unemployed.
In relative terms, growth in the number of affiliates in October was 0.63% compared to September records, while the increase in unemployment exceeds 1%. However, in both cases the improvement compared to October 2023 is notable: the total number of employed people increased by more than half a million people (+2.47%) and the number of unemployed decreased of 157,350 (-5.7%).
In case of affiliation with Social Security, Education is the sector that has contributed the most to its growthafter adding 166,642 employees last month (+15.39%). It is also the profession which has increased the most since the same month of the previous year, with 69,912 more affiliates (+5.93%).
On the contrary, The biggest drop in October occurred in the hotel sectorconsequence of the definitive end of the tourist season. This sector lost more than 48,000 members in the tenth month of the year compared to September (-2.99%). We also note the decline in health and social services activities, with 37,090 fewer workers (-1.9%).
Nevertheless, In annual terms, all sectors record growthwith the exception of domestic activities (-3.28%), extractive industries and energy supply (both down 0.44%).
In October, the number of female members increased by 106,922 people (+1%), reaching 10,108,783 contributorsclose to the June record. With that, Women represent 47.4% of all workersthe highest percentage of female employment recorded.
Europe Press
Male membership increased by 27,385 workers (+0.2%), bringing the total number of active men to 11,223,730. Since the 2021 labor reform, women’s employment has increased by 9.8%, outpacing the 7% increase among men.
The Ministry of Social Security specifies that, In adjusted figures, excluding seasonality and calendar effect, the total number of affiliates amounts to 21,288,671.. Since the start of the year, the increase has reached 445,735 affiliates. In the same terms, the affiliation registered 1.93 million additional workers since before the pandemic.
Unemployment
For his part, unemployment has increased in industry (1,547 people, +0.77%), agriculture (1,603, +1.87%) and especially in serviceswith 22,332 more unemployed than in September (+1.21%).
He also grew up in group without previous employment (those entering the labor market), with an increase of 1.23%, or 2,963 people.
The only drop was recorded in construction, with 1,676 fewer unemployed (-0.85%). In any case, Unemployment decreases in all sectors compared to October 2023.
Unemployment among women increased in October among 13,873 women, or 0.89% more than the previous month, to reach a total of 1,567,611 unemployed. This figure, however, remains the lowest since 2008. Thus, compared to October 2023, female unemployment decreased by 93,444 women, which represents a drop of 5.63%.
At the same time, Male unemployment also increased in Octoberwith 12,896 new unemployed, an increase of 1.26% compared to September, bringing the total to 1,034,443. Compared to last year, male unemployment decreased by 5.82%, with 63,906 fewer unemployed than in October 2023.
As for those under 25, youth unemployment saw a notable monthly increaseadding 8,361 young people to the unemployment lists, an increase of 4.35% compared to the previous month.
Contracts
In October, 1,527,007 contracts were registered, 9.3% more than in the same month of 2023. Of these, 664,195 were permanent contracts, representing a year-on-year increase of 9 .1%. These permanent contracts represent 43.5% of hires.
Among permanent contracts, 266,167 were full-time (+8.9% over one year), 228,363 were on intermittent permanent contracts (+7.5%) and 169,665 were part-time (+11.6%). In the meantime, temporary contracts totaled 862,812, or 9.5% more than in October of the previous year.
During the first ten months of 2024, 12.9 million contracts were signed, or 0.3% less than over the same period of 2023. Among them, 5.5 million were of indefinite duration (-2. 5%) and 7.4 million for a fixed term (+1.5%).
Social security currently has more than 14.7 million members on permanent contractsan increase of 3.7 million since the labor reform. This increase in employment stability contributes to the sustainability of the retirement system, according to the ministry.
