Not Since April 2016, has Spain had so many unemployed people. And with more than 4million unemployed and almost 1million people with an ERTE scheme, the consequences after the third corona virus wave in Spain are painfully visible.
In February, unemployment in Spain increased by 44,436 people (1.1%) compared to January. On Tuesday the Spanish news site La Sexta wrote, according to the Ministry of Employment, unemployment is the result of “the effect on the labour market due to the severe restrictions imposed by the third wave of the corona pandemic.”
Unemployment has increased in almost all sectors in Spain
The total number of unemployed in Spain is currently 4,008,789. In February, unemployment rose in almost all sectors, except in construction, where unemployment actually decreased by 1.6% (5,116 people). The largest increase in unemployment took place in the services sector with 1.3% (36,877 persons) more unemployed than in January.
Despite the extreme number of unemployed in Spain, the number of people paying Social Security increased in February. Compared to January, 20,632 more people pay social security in the past month. This brings the total number to 18,850,112 registrations in February.
Nearly one million Spanish employees with ERTE scheme
However, as in previous months, the unemployment figure for February does not include the number of employees who have been put on hold or employees who temporarily work fewer or no more hours with an ERTE scheme. The Spanish news site 20minutos.es wrote that more than 900,000 people currently use an ERTE scheme. For the time being, this group does not count as “registered unemployed“.
In addition to the monthly unemployment figures, the Ministry of Employment also presented the most recent figures on benefits expenditure. In January, €2,629million was spent on unemployment benefits, of which €694million was for ERTE benefits.
