Employment up by 411,800 in second quarter, the highest absolute figure in ten years

According to data from the Labour Force Survey (Spanish acronym: EPA), published by the National Institute of Statistics (Spanish acronym: INE), no quarter since 2005 has posted such a positive employment result in terms of volume. When compared with last year, job creation stands at 513,500 - an increase of almost 3%. The total number of people in work now stands at 17,866,500, while the total number of unemployed fell by 295,600 (down 5.43%) to 5.15 million. The unemployment rate fell to 22.37% - below the rate posted at the end of the last legislature (2011) - which is 1.4 points lower than in the previous quarter and 2.1 points lower than 12 months ago.

The labour market data are in line with the improving situation of the Spanish economy, the annualised growth for which is estimated at 4% in the second quarter. Government forecasts indicate that 602,000 jobs will be created by the end of this year, with an average annual employment growth rate of 3.2%. The results reflected in the Labour Force Survey on the second quarter support these forecasts, as they also support the forecast unemployment figures, that are expected to fall by 591,000 by the end of the year, with an unemployment rate of 21.1%.

Almost all the jobs created in the second quarter are to be found in the private sector (412,200), while the increase in public sector jobs is practically nil. In the last year, 486,700 jobs were created in the private sector and 26,800 in the public sector. The total number of salaried employees with permanent contracts rose by 60,800 in the quarter, while the number of those in temporary employment rose by 307,600. Year-on-year, permanent employment rose by 170,300 and temporary employment by 274,600. The temporary employment rate stands at 25.09%, 1.5 points higher than in the previous quarter.

Full-time employment rose by 430,200 in the quarter, while the number of workers with a part-time contract fell by 18,500. The percentage of people working part-time fell by almost half a point to 15.77%. Full-time employment rose by 539,500 in the last year, while part-time employment fell by 26,000.

Jobs were created in all sectors during the second quarter. There are 291,700 more workers in the services sector, 64,800 more in the industrial sector, 32,300 more in construction and 23,000 more in agriculture. In the last year, employment rose in the services sector (247,900), the industrial sector (150,600) and construction (113,900). There was practically no change in the agriculture sector.

The total number of unemployed stood at 5.15 million in the second quarter - also lower than at the end of 2011 - after a fall of 295,600 (down 5.43%). The unemployment rate fell by 1.4 points to 22.37%, a fall that increases to 2.1 points when considering the last 12 months. The number of households where all active members are unemployed fell by 136,100 to a total of 1.66 million. In contrast, the number of households where all active members are in employment rose by 202,200. Annually-speaking, this reduction stands at 176,400 and the increase stands at 386,000, respectively.