THE so-called ‘summer effect’ was clear to see in the Spanish job market in August, as unemployment rose by 22,000 people to a total of 2,572,121 jobseekers, while the number of people signed up as workers with the Social Security system fell by 194,000 people to 21,189,402, which is a sign of job destruction in the labour market.
The latest data from the Social Security Ministry bring to an end a five-month period that saw unemployment steadily falling.
Seasonal reasons are traditionally to blame for these patterns in the eighth month of the year, in particular the effect of the education sector, which lost 72,000 workers compared to July.
The reason for this is that many institutions still opt to fire teachers only to rehire them once the new term begins in September, despite a labour reform that was aimed at stamping out this practice.
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In fact, the education and construction sectors together accounted for nearly half of the jobs destroyed in August, given that the latter also traditionally sees a major dip in activity in August.
There is, however, some good news to accompany the bad.
For the fifth month in a row, the number of workers paying into the Social Security system is above 21 million, and there are also some 500,000 more people working this year than this time last year.
“We have consolidated these 21.1 million workers and we are very close to 21.2 million, in a month with a strong seasonal component,” said Social Security Minister Elma Saiz.
“What’s more, it is worth noting that the presence of foreign affiliates is one of the driving forces of our labour market,” she added.
Meanwhile, although the ranks of the unemployed swelled in August, the rise was the smallest seen since the year 2016.
