Job vacancies are close to 155,800, their highest number in ten years

The average labor cost per worker and month (which includes salaries and social contributions) rose 5% in the third quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2022, up to 2,892.73 euros, its highest figure in a third quarter. quarter since 2000, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported this Monday.

This increase in labor costs, which has accumulated eleven consecutive quarters of increases, is eight tenths lower than that registered in the second quarter (5.8%).

The labor cost is made up of the salary cost and other costs. Between July and September, salaries (all remuneration, both in cash and in kind) rose by 4.2% year-on-year in gross terms, reaching an average of 2,117.80 euros per worker per month, the highest figure in a third quarter since the series began, 23 years ago.

Excluding the variable factor of salaries (extraordinary and late payments) we obtain the ordinary salary cost, which in the third quarter of the year rose by 4.5%, to 1,931.37 euros per month.

Other costs (non-wage costs) totaled 774.93 euros per worker per month in the third quarter of the year, with a year-on-year increase of 7.2%. The most important component of the other costs are the mandatory Social Security contributions, which amounted to 724.95 euros per month, 7.2% more than in the third quarter of 2022.

The second important element of other costs is non-salary payments, which increased by 10% year-on-year, due to the increase in severance payments. For their part, subsidies and bonuses increased by 18.7% year-on-year between July and September 2023.

According to the INE, the labor cost per effective hour rose by 5.5% at an annual rate in the third quarter of the year, to 23.80 euros, due to a 0.5% decrease in effective working hours. For its part, the labor cost per hour paid increased by 5% year-on-year, to 18.81 euros.

The INE also provides calendar-corrected and seasonally adjusted data for this statistic. According to this series, the labor cost per worker rose by 5.3% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2023, five tenths less than in the previous quarter. With this increase, there are twelve consecutive quarters of year-on-year increases in the corrected series.

In quarter-on-quarter terms (third quarter over second quarter of the year), the labor cost per worker per month increased by 0.7% in data corrected for seasonality and calendar, five tenths less than in the second quarter.

27.9 EFFECTIVE HOURS OF WORK PER WEEK

During the third quarter of 2023, the average agreed weekly working day, considering jointly full-time and part-time, was 35.3 hours. Of these, on average, 6.2 hours were lost per week, of which 6.2 hours were not worked due to vacations and the rest (1.3 hours) were due to sick leave due to temporary disability, maternity and paternity leave. , other permits, and technical, economic, organizational, production and/or force majeure reasons.

If overtime is added and losses are subtracted, the effective working hours per week are reduced to 27.9.

Depending on the type of shift, the salary difference between full-time and part-time workers is 5.78 euros per hour, but it must be taken into account that full-time workers carry out 61% more hours of effective work than regular employees. part-time (30.4 hours vs. 18.9 hours).

According to the INE, the services sector had the largest year-on-year increase in labor costs in the third quarter of the year, 5.2%, up to 2,825.60 euros per worker per month, while also leading the increase in salaries. with an increase of 4.5%, up to 2,080.71 euros per month.

THE HOSPITALITY SALARY GROWS BY 4.1% IN THE LAST YEAR

The highest wage growth in the third quarter in an interannual rate occurred in real estate activities (10.1%), information and communications (8.8%) and artistic and entertainment activities (7.9%), while the industries extractives were the only ones that cut salaries, with a decrease of 4.3%.

For its part, the salary cost of the hospitality industry rose 4.1% year-on-year in the third quarter, to 1,368.84 euros per month, the lowest amount of all activities.

On the opposite side, with the highest salaries, are the supply of electricity (4,217.4 euros per worker and month); financial and insurance activities (3,761.1 euros); information and communications (3,327.7 euros); extractive industries (3,009 euros), and professional, scientific and technical activities (2,699.8 euros per worker and month).

Regarding the total labor cost, the largest year-on-year increases in the third quarter were recorded in real estate activities, with an increase of 9.1%, up to 2,965.5 euros per worker per month, and information and communications, with an increase of 8.5%, up to 4,336.8 euros. The only year-on-year decrease in labor costs was recorded by the extractive industries, with a decline of 1%, to 4,158.6 euros per worker per month.

By autonomous community, the highest labor costs were recorded by the Basque Country (3,411.3 euros per worker per month), Madrid (3,405.8 euros), Navarra (3,142.4 euros) and Catalonia (3,084.19 euros). On the other hand, the lowest were in Extremadura and the Canary Islands, with 2,279.1 and 2,433 euros, respectively.

Labor costs increased in all regions in the third quarter of 2023 year-on-year. Madrid, with an increase of 7.2%, presented the greatest rebound, followed by La Rioja and the Balearic Islands, both with a year-on-year increase of 6.5%. At the other extreme, with the smallest increases, were Comunidad Valenciana (2.1%) and Extremadura (2.3%).

MORE THAN 155,000 VACANCIES, A RECORD SINCE 2013

The INE has also reported that in the third quarter of 2023, 155,797 job vacancies were registered, the highest number since these began to be counted in 2013. Of the total vacancies, 90.2% belonged to the services sector.

A job vacancy is understood as a newly created job that is not filled or is about to become vacant and for which the employer is taking active steps to find a candidate from outside the company.

93% of the companies questioned by the INE responded that they had no vacancies to fill between July and September because they did not need additional workers.

Madrid and Catalonia concentrated the highest number of vacancies in the third quarter, with 33,656 and 31,242, respectively, while Cantabria and La Rioja presented the lowest figures, with 449 and 658 vacancies, respectively.