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According to data provided by the Ministry of Labour, the number of unemployed people registered in the offices of the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) fell in December by 27,375 people (-1%). In year-on-year terms, unemployment fell in December by 130,197 people (-4.59%), to 2,707,456 people, the lowest figure for this month since 2007.
However, these figures will have to be qualified. According to the USO union, the tangle of knowledge provided by the government conceals the fact that some 650,000 unemployed people, people studying or looking for work in special situations – and who are still unemployed – are not included in the unemployment statistics, despite the fact that they neither paint nor get paid. According to the USO, the number of unemployed in Spain currently stands at 3,215,970 more people. In other words, assuming that those who have so-called “intermittent fixed-term” contracts – who do not work and even receive unemployment benefits – and who number around 700,000 more people, are “employed”.
For its part, according to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, in December the accumulation of Social Security raised the average number of affiliates to 29,937 (0. 1%), which represents the largest accumulation in this month since 2019. to December. 2021 is updated, the year marked by Covid-19. In 2023, the average number of Social Security affiliates rose to 539,740 members (2. 7% year-on-year), reaching 20,836,010 affiliates. largest annual increase after 2018, when the formula added 564,000 employees. In seasonally adjusted figures, the number of Social Security affiliates increased in December to 23,287 employees (-0. 1%), reaching 20,774,625 employees, the highest figure in the old series.
Again, some explanation is needed, as approximately 40% of the share of one million jobs created during the year are jobs in the public sector, basically in education and health.
The truth is that the employment and unemployment figures in Spain are almost incomprehensible: it turns out that an employee with two part-time contracts counts as two contributors. Or there is the paradox that unemployment is going down but unemployment benefits are going up. .
Chirp