The private sector still has 100,000 workers less than before the crisis

The year 2021 has closed with the creation of 776,478 jobs, which has allowed the loss of jobs that occurred during the pandemic and raising the number of affiliates to social security until the historical record of 19.82 million workers
, according to the data published on Tuesday by the Ministries of Social Security and Work.

Although in global terms the year has served to close the employment gap that produced the Covid, it has not yet recovered from all the effective employment of the private sector – without counting people who are still affected by a temporary employment regulation file (ERTE
) And the autonomous that are at the cessation of activity – and that at the end of 2021 it has some 100,000 workers less, as calculated.

In global terms, affiliation of social security now has 416,350 workers more than those in December 2019, just before the pandemic exploded.

However, in this job gain, the public sector hiring is computed and also to 124,087 workers who are highly published but are in ERTE and 108,17.Autonoms that are at the cessation of activity.

Of the total workers in ERTE, there are 102,548 in Erte Covid -49,685 with reduction of hours and 52,863 without working – 20.124 in ErtE ETOP-by economic, technical, organizational or productive causes not linked to the pandemic – and 1,415 in ERTE by the
Eruption of the palm.

Although effective affiliation has not fully recovered in the private sector, the labor market in 2021 has behaved in a favorable way, with a special impulse of the sectors that were more damaged by the pandemic in 2020 as the hotel (with
An increase of 17.7% in employment, 180,619 posts created) or artistic, recreational and entertainment activities (+ 16.24%, 37,654 jobs).

Sectors such as health and social services and education, in which there is an important weight of public employment, have also been thrown away from the creation of 53,648 and 41,128 posts respectively (+ 3.16% and + 4.11%)
.

The good use of employment has allowed us to lower the number of people targeted unemployment in the offices of the State Public Employment Service (SEPE, Old INEM), which has registered at the end of year at 3,105,905 unemployed, 782.232 less than it does
one year.

Although the total stoppage of the country is less than registered before the pandemic (140,142 unemployed less than in the first quarter of 2020), has not managed to repeat the minimum that had been registered in July 2019, when the total stops arrived
at 3,011,433.
Other 94,472 people would have to come from unemployment to recover that soil that was not reached since 2008.

The Ministry of Labor who leads Yolanda Díaz has taken chest of the data and, especially, from the descent of female unemployment and juvenile unemployment.
The latter has dropped by 39.57%, with which the number of under 25 years aimed at the Sepe lists is situated at 275,469 young people.

This figure, however, is much lower than that the Active Population Survey (EPA) that publishes the INE quarterly and according to which there are 524,100 under 25 years of age in Spain.

This data, compared to the number of assets, is the one that is used to determine that the juvenile unemployment rate in the country exceeds 31%, which places Spain as the second country of Europe with more unemployment in this group of
Age, only behind Greece (which recorded a juvenile unemployment of 36.5% in November according to the OECD).

Regarding regional differences, affiliation has risen and unemployment has come down in all autonomous communities, although the Canary and Balearic Islands are in a leading position given the Batacaz who suffered in 2020 by the pandemic.

Despite the improvement of employment, Spain has not managed to beat the aforementioned record of 20 million affiliates to social security, although the ministry that directs José Luis Escrivá trusts to achieve it before the month of June.

In the absence of COVID-19, Spain could have reached 20,350,000 occupied at 20,350,000 in December, according to BBVA Research estimates, “which verifies that the potential impact of the crisis continues to be significant (-530,000 affiliates)”
, Aims this study service.

They also point out that, without Coronavirus, unemployment could have dropped to the 2,950,000 unemployed.
“The impact of the COVID-19 is 160,000 unemployed,” they point out.

Although the purpose is to achieve those figures in the first half of the year, positive data are not expected, since it is a month in which affiliation is traditionally falling for the end of the season of sale in trade and the Christmas period in
The tourism.

The ministry, in addition, never computes the high and lows that occur on December 31 – to be a working day – in the data of that month, so on January 3 it will pick up the net balance of that day, which always
It is negative.
In 2021, on January 4, the loss of 117,107 year-old affiliates was collected from 2020 and in 2020 that of 114,738 workers of the 2019.

The recovery of employment that has occurred last year has not been enough to end precariousness.
In fact, to create 776,000 jobs, 19.38 million of employment contracts have been signed in the country.

90% of them (17.27 million) were temporary contracts, 1.29 million were indefinite contracts full-time and 820,418 part-time indefinite contracts.

It is striking of the year 2021 that although employment has grown hard, the rebound of the gross domestic product (GDP) will be weaker than initially thought, which has caused a sinking of work productivity per hour effectively worked.

This is so because Spain has already recovered the employment prior to the pandemic, but on the contrary it will not manage to equate its level of activity until 2023, according to different international organizations.
If a lower level of activity is achieved with more workers, this assumes that the productivity of these workers is lower, something that has also not happened in other countries of our surroundings.

“It is true that there is a certain decouple between the employment data and those of national accounting, it is striking and is quite unusual compared to the countries of our environment since in them the growth of employment and GDP growth, and therefore
That of the apparent productivity of work, are being very similar, “explained Israel Arroyo, Social Security Secretary.

In Spain, however, with the data available today “there is a very strong growth of employment, but there is a weaker GDP growth and therefore an important decrease in apparent productivity of work. This is striking, not
It is usual in our recent history, and I think the revisions will tend to reduce this that is anomalous, “he added.

Different economists try to explain this sinking of productivity by achieving it to change the sectoral composition that has occurred in Spain after the COVID – with a lower weight of the sectors that were more productive – and also to the change of production model derived from the
pandemic.

For example, the sanitary restrictions imposed on some industrial companies prevent maintaining the same levels of production as before the pandemic.