Between April and June, more than 600,000 jobs were created, a record for a second quarter, most of them permanent, reaching a new maximum

Unemployment fell by 365,300 people in the second quarter of the year, which is 11.7% less than in the previous quarter, and 603,900 jobs were created (2.9%), the largest quarterly increase in the series, bringing the total employed for the first time in history to 21,056,700 people, according to data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) published this Thursday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

The drop in unemployment experienced between April and June is the highest in a second quarter since 1977 and places the level of unemployed at 2,762,500 people, its lowest figure since the third quarter of 2008. If the new definition of unemployment rate of the International Labor Organization (ILO), the drop in unemployment in the second quarter of this year is the steepest since the first quarter of 2001.

Thus, the unemployment rate fell by almost 1.7 points in the second quarter, to 11.6%, its lowest value since the summer of 2008.

For its part, the activity rate rose by four tenths, to close to 59%, after increasing the number of active people by 238,600 people between April and June (1%), with which the active population reached a new all-time high of 23,819. 200 people.

In the last year unemployment has been reduced by 157,000 people (-5.4%) and 588,700 jobs have been created (2.9%), while the volume of assets has increased by 431,700 people (1.8%) .

In seasonally adjusted terms, unemployment registered a decrease of 6.6% between April and June, thus linking two consecutive quarters of declines, while employment grew by 1.4% in the seasonally adjusted series and has already accumulated 12 consecutive quarters of increases.

NEW MAXIMUM PERMANENT EMPLOYEES

According to the INE, the number of wage earners increased in the second quarter by 505,500 people (2.9%), of which 410,100 had a permanent contract (2.8%) and 95,400 had a temporary contract (3.2%). Thus, at the end of June, the number of permanent employees exceeded 14.76 million, a new all-time high, while the temporary rate rose slightly, up to 17.35%, compared to 17.28% in the previous quarter.

Job creation registered between April and June was concentrated in the private sector, which generated 610,100 jobs (3.6%), to exceed 17.5 million jobs for the first time in 15 years. In contrast, the public sector cut its jobs by 6,200 people in the second quarter, 0.17% less than the previous quarter.

The number of full-time employees increased by 561,500 people between April and June (3.2%), up to 18,208,900 employees, its highest figure since the summer of 2008. For their part, part-time employees increased by 42,500 (1.5%), to a total of 2.84 million people.

MORE EMPLOYMENT AND LESS UNEMPLOYMENT IN BOTH SEXES

The fall in unemployment in the second quarter affected both sexes, although women to a greater extent. Specifically, female unemployment fell by 213,300 women (-12.5%), compared to a decline in male unemployment of 152,000 unemployed (-10.6%). With these data, the female unemployment rate dropped almost two points, to 13.16%, while the male unemployment rate fell 1.4 points, to 10.19%.

Job creation also affected men and women. The former were made with 332,200 new jobs (3%) and women gained 271,800 jobs (2.8%), marking the female occupation a new all-time high of 9,799,600 workers.

The statistics show that the increase in employment in the second quarter was concentrated mainly in Spaniards, among whom 469,200 jobs were created (2.6%), compared to an increase in employment among foreigners of 134,800 jobs ( 4,9).

The Spanish also concentrated to a greater extent the reduction in unemployment registered between April and June, with 284,500 fewer unemployed (-11.6%), compared to a drop in unemployment among foreigners of 80,800 people (-12%).

SERVICES PULL EMPLOYMENT

By sectors, unemployment fell in the second quarter in all of them, especially in services, which lost 208,600 unemployed (-16.6%), followed by the long-term unemployed (-86,200 unemployed); construction (-23,400 unemployed); the group of those looking for their first job (-22,400 unemployed); industry (-19,100 unemployed) and agriculture, where unemployment fell by 5,700 people between April and June.

For its part, job creation in the second quarter affected all sectors except industry, which lost 64,500 jobs in the quarter (-2.3%).

The greatest rise in employment was recorded by services, with 606,000 more jobs (3.9%), which led this sector to exceed 16 million employed persons for the first time in the EPA series. Construction, for its part, generated 60,900 jobs between April and June (4.7%), while agriculture created 1,500 jobs (0.2%).

According to the EPA for the second quarter, self-employed workers increased by 97,300 people (3.1%) between April and June, which placed the total number of self-employed at 3,196,300 people. In the last year, the group accumulates an increase of 44,000 self-employed (1.4%).

TELEWORK MARKS HIGHS SINCE THE END OF 2021

Between April and June, 1,527,800 employed people worked from home on more than half the days, the equivalent of 6.3% of the total employed.

There are 121,600 more workers than those who teleworked in the second quarter of 2022 and the highest figure since the end of 2021, but they represent almost half of those who teleworked at the peak of the pandemic, when 3.01 million employed people developed their remote activity.

The total number of effective weekly hours worked in the second quarter increased by 1.8% year-on-year. Specifically, 670.78 million hours were worked, the highest figure since the last quarter of 2008.

However, the average number of effective weekly hours worked by all employed persons fell by 0.9% year-on-year, to 33 hours, compared to 33.3 hours in the second quarter of 2022.