Recorded unemployment rises by 44,436 in February due to strong impact of third wave of pandemic

Recorded unemployment by the State Public Employment Service (Spanish acronym: SEPE) rose by 44,436 people in February on the month of January (up 1.12%). This rise in unemployment stems from the impact on the job market of the severe restrictions imposed as a result of the third wave of the pandemic.

The total number of people recorded as unemployed now stands at 4,008,789. The seasonally-adjusted figure rose by 20,222 people.

Unemployment by economic sector

Compared with January, the number of recorded unemployed fell in construction by 5,116 people (down 1.61%), while it remained practically stable in industry, with 629 more people recorded (up 0.2%).

It increased in services by 36,877 people (up 1.32%), in agriculture by 6,174 people (up 3.33%), and also among first-time job-seekers by 5,872 people (up 1.7%).

Unemployment by gender and age

Recorded unemployment among men rose in February by 13,032 (up 0.77%), to a total of 1,704,010 people. Among women, unemployment rose by 31,404 (up 1.37%) to a total of 2,304,779 on the figure for January.

Unemployment among young people under the age of 25 fell in February by 9,280 people (up 2.6%) on the previous month.

Unemployment by region

Recorded unemployment fell in three autonomous regions: the Basque Country (down 1,702), Extremadura (down 1,517) and Galicia (down 756).

In contrast, it rose in the remaining 14 regions, headed up by Andalusia (up 14,418), the Region of Valencia (up 8,363) and the Region of Madrid (up 7,417).

Contracts recorded in February

1,212,284 employment contracts were signed in February in total. Of these, 132,431 were permanent employment contracts, accounting for 10.92% of all contracts.

In terms of the working day, these permanent employment contracts signed in February were divided into 86,160 full-time contracts and 46,271 part-time contracts.

The rest of the employment contracts, to complete the total figure signed in February of 1,212,284, include 6,466 training contracts and 1,073,387 other types of temporary contracts. This latter group includes Specific Works or Service Contracts (from day to full-time contracts), accounting for 31.62%, followed by Temporary Contracts due to Production Circumstances (from one day to full-time contracts), accounting for 27.12%.

Unemployment benefits in month of January

The month of January ended with a total of 2,376,847 beneficiaries of unemployment benefits. Total spending on benefits in January 2021 amounted to 2.63 billion euros.

The average monthly cost per beneficiary in January, without including the agricultural subsidy in Andalusia and Extremadura, was 1,130.80€, a rise on the same month of the previous year of 196.90€ (up 21.1%).

Benefits under a Temporary Lay-off Plan (Spanish acronym: ERTE) in January amounted to 694 million euros.

Non official translation