The number of employed people in Spain stood at 20,184,900 at the end of the year, the highest level since 2008, with 153,900 jobs created in the last quarter. Unemployment has fallen by 615,900 people in the last year and the unemployment rate stands at 13.3%, the lowest since 2008.
The number of employed people increased last year by 840,700, which is the largest job creation since 2005, with an increase of 4.35%, according to data from the Labour Force Survey (EPA) released this week by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
"This increase brings the total number of employed people to 20,184,900, the highest figure since 2008, highlighting the dynamism of the labour market," the Spanish government said in a press release.
This positive development is also reflected in the reduction in the number of unemployed people, which in 2021 has continued to fall significantly, by 615,900 people, or 16.6%, bringing the total number of unemployed people to 3,103,800. The unemployment rate fell by 2.8 points to 13.3%, its lowest since 2008.
The growth of the labour market in 2021 has been general across all sectors of activity and all indicators, with an increase in the active population, employment and hours worked, a reduction in unemployment and a decrease in the number of households with all members unemployed.
ERTEs
For the government, this is a comprehensive recovery that has led to an increase in employment and a reduction in unemployment in practically all regions.
The increase in employment and reduction in unemployment has resulted in an increase in the number of active people by 224,700, reaching an activity rate of 58.6%.
This process has also been parallel to the reincorporation into their jobs of people who were on Temporary Redundancy Programmes (ERTEs) due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the labour market.
The total number of actual hours worked increased by 2.4% compared to the same period last year.
Employment
In the last year, employment increased in all sectors, with the highest growth concentrated in the Services sector, with 705,400 more employed, followed by Industry, with 71,500 and Agriculture, with 58,000 more people working.
There was an increase in employment in all Autonomous Communities, except Ceuta. The regions where most jobs were created were Andalusia, with 166,800 more, and Catalonia with 157,600.
The private sector concentrated job creation over the last year and also in the fourth quarter. During 2021, 744,300 jobs were created in the private sector, compared to 96,400 in the public sector.
The increase in employment over the last year has been higher among workers with permanent contracts, with 425,000 more employees registered, compared to 307,700 more fixed-term workers. This dynamic has been more pronounced in the last quarter of 2021, where the number of permanent jobs has grown by 150,600, while temporary contracts have fallen by 92,900. As a result, the number of permanent contracts reached 12.7 million, the highest level in the entire historical series, although the temporary employment rate stood at 25.4%.
In the last year, both the number of salaried workers increased by 732,700 and the number of self-employed workers increased by 105,800.
The increase in employment over the last year has been higher among women, with 479,600 more women in employment compared to 361,100 men.
Unemployment
In annual terms, in 2021, unemployment fell by 615,900 (-16.56%), with a generalised reduction across all sectors, particularly Services, with 440,500 fewer unemployed. In the last year, the number of people who lost their job more than a year ago fell by 55,900 and those looking for their first job by 4,000.
By regions, unemployment fell in all except La Rioja and Ceuta. The largest decreases were in Catalonia, 142,500 fewer unemployed, Madrid, 122,500, and Andalusia, 85,500.
In year-on-year terms, the number of unemployed reduced a little more among women, with 335,800 more unemployed women, compared with 280,100 fewer unemployed men.
Youth unemployment continues to fall, with a decrease of 0.5 points in the quarter and 9.4 points over the previous year, although it is still the highest at 30.7%.
