Unemployment fell by 73,890 people in April driven by services and is at its lowest since 2008

Permanent contracts decreased by 24% in the last year and accounted for 45.8% of the total, while temporary contracting decreased by 16.6%

MADRID, 4 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The number of unemployed registered in the offices of the public employment services fell by 73,890 people in April in relation to the previous month (-2.6%) driven by the drop in unemployment in the services sector due to hiring for Easter, according to data published this Thursday by the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy.

Thus, at the end of April, the total number of unemployed was below the barrier of 2.8 million unemployed, specifically at 2,788,370, its lowest level this month since 2008.

As highlighted by the Department headed by Yolanda Díaz, this figure "returns" the labor market "to the boom scenario prior to the financial crisis", which showed the lowest unemployment records in the historical series.

"Both the quantitative and qualitative aspects place us in a scenario for solid employment strongly anchored to the stability derived from the labor reform," added Trabajo.

The drop in unemployment in April of this year, the second in a row after March, is lower than that experienced in April 2022, when unemployment fell by 86,260 people. However, the decline this year has been higher than that registered in April 2021 (-39,012 unemployed).

Since the beginning of the comparable historical series, in 1996, unemployment has fallen 25 times in April and has risen three times, especially in 2020, when the arrival of Covid triggered unemployment by more than 282,000 people.

In seasonally adjusted terms, registered unemployment decreased in the fourth month of 2023 by 2,646 people.

In the last year, unemployment has accumulated a decrease of 234,133 unemployed, which is 7.7% less, with a drop in female unemployment of 108,818 women (-6.1%) and a drop in male unemployment of 125,315 men (- 10.1%).

Unemployment fell in April in all economic sectors, especially in the service sector, which reduced 52,216 unemployed (-2.5%) due to hiring in the hotel industry for Easter.

They were followed by the group without previous employment, where unemployment decreased by 7,973 people (-3%); industry, with 5,391 fewer unemployed (-2.3%); agriculture, with 4,296 fewer unemployed (-3.8%), and construction, which registered a decline of 4,014 unemployed (-1.8%).

Unemployment fell in April for both sexes, although somewhat more among women. Specifically, female unemployment fell by 38,756 women (-2.2%), compared to a drop in male unemployment of 35,134 men (-3.07%).

Thus, at the end of April, the total number of unemployed women stood at 1,679,567 unemployed, its lowest figure in the last 15 years, while the number of unemployed men totaled 1,108,803 unemployed.

By age, unemployment among young people under 25 years of age fell 9.2% in April, with 19,848 fewer unemployed than at the end of March, while unemployment among people aged 25 and over decreased by 54,042 unemployed (-2 %).

Work has highlighted that the rate of decline in youth unemployment in April (-9.2%) has tripled that of general unemployment, which has placed the total number of unemployed under 25s at 195,251, a record low.

Registered unemployment fell in April in all the autonomous communities, especially in Andalusia (-20,551 unemployed), Catalonia (-9,506), Castilla-La Mancha (-6,645 unemployed) and Madrid (-6,215 unemployed).

As for the provinces, unemployment fell in all of them, led by Madrid (-6,215 unemployed), Barcelona (-5,787) and Seville (-5,081).

Registered unemployment among foreigners decreased by 9,981 unemployed compared to the previous month (-2.7%), reaching the total number of unemployed immigrants at 362,934, which means 16,917 fewer unemployed than a year earlier (-4.4%) .

In April, 1,157,316 contracts were registered, 20.2% less than in the same month of 2022. Of all of them, 530,537 were permanent contracts, a figure 24% lower than that of April 2022.

In total, 45.84% of the contracts carried out in April were permanent, a percentage point lower than that registered in March, when the proportion of permanent contracts was 46.82%.

Of the total number of permanent contracts signed in April, 224,308 were full-time, 21.2% less than in the same month last year; 185,315 were permanent-discontinuous contracts (-22.4%) and 120,914 were permanent part-time contracts (-31%).

Of all the contracts signed in April, 626,779 were temporary contracts, 16.6% less than in the same month of 2022.

In the first four months of the year, just over 2.16 million permanent contracts have been signed, 22.7% more than in the same period of 2022, and 2.58 million temporary contracts, 41.1% less .

The Ministry has also reported that spending on unemployment benefits reached 1,904.9 million euros in March (latest data available), 3.1% more than in the same month of 2022.

The benefits paid since January of this year incorporate the increase in the regulatory base to 60% from the seventh month, compared to the percentage of 50% that had been applied since 2012 for the calculation of the benefit.

As a consequence of this, the average gross amount of the contributory unemployment benefit increased by 8% in March, up to 952.1 euros per month.

The average monthly expense per beneficiary, without including the agricultural subsidy in Andalusia and Extremadura, amounted to 1,089.1 euros in the month of March, which is 11.1 euros more than in the same month of 2022 (1%).

The total number of beneficiaries of unemployment benefits stood at 1,787,538 people at the end of the third month of the year, 1.6% more than in March of last year, with the coverage rate reaching 66.61%, its highest level. high in a decade, according to Labor.

The benefit data is always one month behind the unemployment data, so the Ministry has published this Thursday the unemployment figures for April and the benefit statistics for March.