In December 2022, unemployment in Spain fell by 1.5%, representing 43,727 people. This decrease means that unemployment is now below 3 million with 2,837,653 unemployed. Furthermore, this is the lowest number since 2007.
Although this is a very low figure, the number of people who found work again in the same month is moderate. The number of social security registrations was 12,640 in December, the lowest figure since the crisis year 2012.
Great uncertainty within the hospitality industry in Spain
If we look at each sector, it is striking that the hospitality industry in particular is struggling with a considerable degree of uncertainty. Last month there were around 24,000 redundancies in this sector.
A recurring trend is the large number of redundancies that fall just before Christmas each year. On December 22 and 23, most people were fired in order not to have to pay social security contributions for these employees during the two Christmas days (December 24 and 25). Here too, the problem of temporary contracts in Spain becomes clear again.
Never before have so many people worked in Spain
The month of December closes the year 2022, which, as some predicted, was not as disastrous as thought in terms of employment. In fact, 2022 was even a fantastic year on that front. Last year, 471,360 jobs were created in the field of social security. There was also a record number of registrations, which meant that Spain, with 20,296,271 members of the social security system, had an unprecedented number of people working.
Spain can successfully close 2022
2022 was also successful when looking at previous years. On an annual basis, unemployment fell by 268,252 people (-8.64%) in 2022 compared to 2021. Despite the war, the after-effects of the pandemic and inflation, Spain can call the 2022 working year successful.
Also read: November 2022 unemployment fell