Indefinite contracts increased by 19.8% in the last year and accounted for 46.8% of the total, while temporary contracting decreased by 39.6%

MADRID, 4 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The number of unemployed registered in the offices of the public employment services fell by 48,755 people in March in relation to the previous month (-1.67%) driven by the decrease in unemployment in the service sector due to hiring for Easter Week, according to data published this Tuesday by the Ministry of Labor, which has highlighted that the percentage decline in unemployment registered in March is the largest in this month since 2002.

Thus, at the end of March, the total number of unemployed stood at 2,862,260, its lowest figure this month since 2008, according to Trabajo.

The Department headed by Yolanda Díaz has stressed that the drop in unemployment in March is "especially positive in an international context of uncertainty", especially "in the financial sphere".

The second vice president and Minister of Labor had already anticipated that the unemployment data for March would be "positive."

The drop in unemployment in March of this year, which puts an end to two consecutive months of promotions, far exceeds that experienced in March 2022, when as soon as the war broke out in Ukraine, unemployment only fell by 2,921 people. However, the decline this year has been less than that registered in March 2021 (-59,149 unemployed).

Except for the period 2020-2022, affected by the pandemic and the war, the drop in unemployment in March of this year is the most pronounced in this month since 2016, when it fell by 58,216 people.

Since the beginning of the comparable historical series, in 1996, unemployment has fallen 23 times in March and has risen 5 times, especially in 2020, when the arrival of Covid triggered unemployment by more than 300,000 people.

In seasonally adjusted terms, registered unemployment decreased in the third month of 2023 by 38,737 people.

In the last year, unemployment has accumulated a decrease of 246,503 unemployed, which is 7.9% less, with a drop in female unemployment of 113,105 women (-6.2%) and a drop in male unemployment of 133,398 men (- 10.4%).

Unemployment fell in March in four economic sectors, especially in the service sector, which reduced 42,789 unemployed (-2%) due to hiring in the hotel industry for Easter. It was followed by construction, where unemployment fell by 3,898 people (-1.7%); industry, with 3,419 fewer unemployed (-1.47%) and agriculture, with 2,648 fewer unemployed (-2.3%).

However, unemployment rose in the previously unemployed group, which after adding 10,139 unemployed in February, added another 3,999 unemployed to its ranks in March (1.5%).

Unemployment fell in March for both sexes, although somewhat more among women. Specifically, female unemployment fell by 25,897 women (-1.5%), compared to a drop in male unemployment of 22,858 men (-1.9%).

Thus, at the end of March, the total number of unemployed women stood at 1,718,323 unemployed, its lowest figure in the last 15 years, while the number of unemployed men totaled 1,143,937 unemployed.

By age, unemployment among young people under 25 years of age fell 0.1% in March, with 267 fewer unemployed than at the end of February, while unemployment among people aged 25 and over decreased by 48,488 unemployed (-1 .8%).

Work has highlighted that youth unemployment has been reduced in March for the first time this month in the last nine years, which has placed the total number of unemployed under 25 years of age at 215,099, its lowest figure in a month of March within from the historical series.

Registered unemployment fell in March in all the autonomous communities, except in Madrid, where it rose by 1,013 unemployed. The greatest decreases were registered in Andalucía (-15,284 unemployed), Canarias (-5,775) and Castilla y León (-4,446 unemployed).

As for the provinces, unemployment fell in 49 of them, especially in Seville (-4,053 unemployed), Malaga (-3,685) and Las Palmas (-3,323) and rose in three provinces: Madrid (1,013 unemployed), Ceuta (197 ) and Ourense (32).

Registered unemployment among foreigners decreased by 3,073 unemployed compared to the previous month (-0.8%), until the total number of unemployed immigrants stood at 372,915, which means 19,515 fewer unemployed than a year earlier (-5%).

In March, 1,315,095 contracts were registered, 21.3% less than in the same month of 2022. Of all of them, 615,674 were permanent contracts, a figure that is 19.8% higher than that of March 2022.

In total, 46.82% of the contracts carried out in March were permanent, a percentage that exceeds that registered in February, when the proportion of permanent contracts was 45.46%.

Of the total number of permanent contracts signed in March, 284,208 were full-time, 9% more than in the same month last year; 180,909 were permanent-discontinuous contracts (70.6%) and 150,557 were permanent part-time contracts (2.5%).

Of all the contracts signed in March, 699,421 were temporary contracts, 39.6% less than in the same month of 2022.

In the first three months of the year, just over 1.6 million permanent contracts have been signed, 53.3% more than in the same period of 2022, and 1.96 million temporary contracts, 46.1% less .

Trabajo has highlighted that these data confirm "the change in the contracting model" towards stable employment after one year of full validity of the labor reform, because although it entered into force 15 months ago, the modifications introduced in contracting came into force force three months later.

The Ministry has also reported that spending on unemployment benefits reached 1,952.7 million euros in February (latest data available), 3.8% 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 amount of the contributory unemployment benefit increased by 7.3% in February, up to 961.6 euros per month.

The average monthly expense per beneficiary, without including the agricultural subsidy in Andalusia and Extremadura, amounted to 1,070.7 euros in the month of February, which is 24.9 euros more than in the same month of 2022 (2.4%).

The total number of beneficiaries of unemployment benefits stood at 1,863,952 people at the end of the second month of the year, 1.1% more than in February last year, with the coverage rate reaching 68.11%, its highest level. high in a month of February since 2012, according to Labor.

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