The Spanish labor market It is the one that creates the most jobs in the European Unionbut also the only one to maintain a double-digit unemployment rate. A paradox which is even more striking when more and more companies declare that they cannot find workers and the government itself undertakes to facilitate the arrival of immigrants to fill vacant positions. In this context, there is a particularly surprising fact: the increase in the number of employees, which reached a new annual record in the third quarter and raises the question: how is it possible that 560,000 people have at least two jobs while 2.7 million Canadians you can’t find one? The answer points to the poor “quality” of the positions available.
Data from the latest Labor Force Survey (EPA) place the number of employed people with a secondary job in the third quarter at 558,800. It must be taken into account that Undeclared work is particularly affected by the seasonality of the labor market (in fact, in the second quarter they reached 585,000 and at the end of 2023 they exceeded 600,000). But in annual terms, they recorded an increase of 3.3% and placed this figure at its lowest level. historic maximum for this time of year.
Undeclared work It is carried out by employees: They represent 82.5% of these workers and among them, 72.5% also have another salaried job. This breaks the idea that undeclared workers are “entrepreneurs” or self-employed workers who use their free time to devote themselves to other projects and highlights that in Spain, It is a way of obtaining income to compensate for insufficient salaries.
An idea which reinforces the fact that our country has with 1.3 million underemployedthat is, people who work fewer hours than they would like. This is one of the highest levels in the EU, although the figure is falling. Undeclared work is moving in the opposite direction. In fact, while employed people with only one job are growing at a rate of 1.7%, those with more than one job are growing at 3.3%. In the case of employees, the gap is even greater. The: workers employed with a single job increase by 2.2% per year, Those who have a second job do so at 6.1%.
How is this phenomenon explained? Undeclared work is a measure that, in theory, is directly linked to the supply and demand of labor. A country with low unemployment and a high number of job vacancies will have more multi-employees. But in practice, the situation Much depends on the circumstances of each labor market.
To what extent is undeclared work a problem in Spain? In reality, it affects 2.6% of employees and 2.5% of employees. These are modest rates, although it must be taken into account that, unlike the unemployment rate, the rate of undeclared work is inelastic in Spain, without much volatility between a minimum of 1.7% at the beginning of the century and a maximum of 2.8% in 2008. This makes a variation in tenths much more relevant than in other statistics.
Current levels are precisely the highest since the start of the financial crisis. Of course, with an unemployment rate almost three points higher. And this is where the analysis gets complicated..
A problem or a symptom of something worse?
The aforementioned problem of labor shortage is consistent with the increase in employment which, since 2020, has accelerated to historic levels, as has happened in other European countries. But not with a strike that is still far from reducing to the same intensity. Much less if we add undeclared work to the equation: each of the 558,800 “additional” jobs held on average by a cumulative worker could be occupied by someone who does not have a job and the would emerge from unemployment (or inactivity).
Unless these positions are not attractive. LFS data do not allow a breakdown of secondary employment hours. The high weight of salaried employees among multiple-job workers indicates that many of these positions are part-time or short-term weekend positions.
People employed part-time in this type of work increased by 3% last year, to 2.7 million, although their weight in total employment is 12%, lower than in the years before the pandemic . For their part, 7.6 million Spaniards usually work on weekends (3 million on Saturday and 4.6 on Sunday).
The two hypotheses (part-time work and weekends or public holidays) are associated especially with the hotel industry and commerce. Even if the EPA does not break down the number of employed people with a secondary job by branch of activity, it specifies that services represent 90% of multiple jobs. We also know that the highest bias coefficients are found in the hotel industry (20.1% of employees) and commerce (15.6). Although the INE statistics provide other information that is perhaps more relevant: the average weekly hours worked in a secondary job.
Black trade workers They spend 17 hours per week at their second job and those in the hotel sector 13but those in IT and telecommunications reach 18.9 hours and those in financial activities 21.1. At this point we must remember that in Spain there is no limit to the number of hours a person can accumulate in two similar jobs, as is the case in Greece. However, just because they are “working more hours” does not mean they are responsible for the increase in work hours. “additional” job: the weight of IT and finance professionals in the entire Spanish labor market barely reaches 3.9% and 2% respectively.
On the other hand, the EPA speaks of “employee with a secondary job“, but it also does not explain the number of jobs each person has. Social Security statistics, which measure affiliation not as people, but as work relationships, detect more than 800,000 cases of multiple activity If we compare it with the EPA, we would have up to 40% of people with multiple jobs have a third job.
This brings us to a scenario in which the quality of available jobs limits job creation and the ability to reduce unemployment. It’s not just that many employees are forced to look for a second contract, it’s that people who don’t have a job don’t accept available positions either. A diagnosis recently included in a SEPE study concerning vacant positions in the hotel industry, commerce and construction. That’s to say, Undeclared work is not a problem but a symptom of a much more serious problem: the quality of jobs.
The European contrast
Comparison with our neighbors allows us to place the Spanish data in context. The rate of undeclared work in Spain appears low compared to the European average of 4.2%. This is consistent with an unemployment rate of 11.7%, the highest of the Twenty-Seven, but Greece, which has an unemployment rate of 10.4%, has 1.4% of undeclared workers. For its part, Finland, with an unemployment rate of 8.4%, has a vacancy rate of 8.1%, only surpassed by the Netherlands and Denmark.
This tells us that to understand the dhasteitherWhen it comes to undeclared work, other variables must be taken into account, such as the economic situation of each country and working conditions, including wages. Finlandlike Sweden (fourth on the list) is an example of a labor market ‘rigidTO DO’ with aAndvhasdad protection of older workers which slows down the hiring of young people. They also benefit from strong social protection and problemsAndfurther cope with the arrival of immigrants and refugees (especially Ukrainians)) which distorts their employment statistics.
The situation in Spain is more comparable to that of the paisEast of the basin Mediterranean, less exposed to the consequences of the invasion of Ukraine, but with its own imbalances. Thus, France records 7.4% unemployment and 4.7% vacancies in a context dand crisisYes polYotYocoh prosecutor, I’m lyingrhasYes this Italy is one of the states memberYes what mhasgrew up togethereither in Spain, since the pandemic, notes an unemployment rate of 7% but only 1% of undeclared work.
But all countries have something in common: a vacancy rate much higher than that of Spain. This reflects an imbalance in the labor market between unemployment and the quality of jobs covered and to be filled, which can help to understand why our country has so much difficulty reducing unemployment.
