MADRID – In June, unemployment in Spain fell to its lowest level in 15 years. Never before have so many people been working in Spain. The month ends with a record number of employees registered with social security: 21 million.
This is the highest number of workers the country has ever known. In addition, unemployment rates are at their lowest level in the past 15 years.
Job creation set a new record in June, albeit at a slower pace. A total of 54,541 new jobs were created, bringing the total number of affiliated employees to 20.86 million. This month, in particular, many contracts were signed in the sales and hospitality sector:
- Trade: 30,000 extra employees for sales
- Catering: 32,000 extra employees for the summer
Best first half of the year in history
The combined number of jobs is impressive: more than half a million jobs have been created in the last 12 months. A total of 521,610 additional employees contribute to social security. This data shows that we are currently experiencing the “best first half of the year” in job creation in history. Moreover, since the start of the pandemic, 1.3 million jobs have been created.
However, the pace of job creation is slowing down. If we look only at June, the 54,500 additional jobs are the lowest number of new jobs since 2015.
Fall in unemployment
Unemployment has also fallen by 50,268, bringing the total number of unemployed in Spain to 2,688,000, the lowest level in the last 15 years. We are now at the unemployment level of 2008, before the real estate crisis.
The combined figure is also convincing: last year there were 191,740 fewer unemployed, and we have been below the three million mark for 14 months. Although the month of June clearly has a seasonal aspect, it is remarkable that 42.3% of the contracts signed are permanent contracts, again mainly in the services sector.
Insecurity in education
Beneath the positive figures, there is a downside that should not be overlooked: the enormous uncertainty in the education sector and among teachers. Moreover, this is a worrying situation. It is embarrassing to see 51,722 teachers lose their jobs in June.
This practice has been going on for years, leading to great uncertainty in the profession. The schools fire these teachers in June and don’t hire them again until September. This means that they do not receive a salary during the summer holidays and must apply for unemployment benefits.
This practice of uncertainty in education has long been a problem. In 2022, 120,405 education workers took to the streets; in 2021, the number of dismissed teachers was 110,434. Furthermore, the pattern repeats year after year, with layoffs starting in June and continuing through July and August. Spain has 759,000 teachers, so this problem affects a significant number of people. Although it is true that most teachers are hired again in September.
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