This good performance of the labour market takes place in a complex economic and inflationary context and at a time when the COVID ERTEs have ended, which has not translated into an impairment in affiliation.
The good performance recorded in April meant that the first four months of 2022 ended with 152,621 more people employed than at the end of 2021, which is growth in line with that recorded in the years before the pandemic.
Moreover, the effects of the labour market reform were accentuated in April, with a sharp increase in permanent contracts and a drastic reduction in very short-term contracts.
If we consider the average number of affiliates in original terms, April exceeded 20 million for the first time in the historical series, at 20,019,080 workers. On the last day of the month, 20,098,119 affiliates were recorded, according to the daily series, which is also the first time that a month has closed above 20 million.
Half a million more jobs than before the pandemic
With last month's increase, the employment level exceeds the level of February 2020 - before the start of the pandemic - by 505,859 workers after recording 12 consecutive months of employment growth in seasonally adjusted terms.
Growth in affiliation compared to the pre-pandemic level is widespread across sectors, with most sectors at higher employment levels than in February 2020, with a particular concentration in the more innovative and higher value-added sectors, including Information and Communications (13.5%), Health Care Activities (8.5%), Public Administration (7.7%), Scientific and Technical Professional Activities (7.2%) and Education (7%).
Growth has also occurred in all autonomous communities, which in all cases have more affiliates than in February 2020.
Positive impact of the labour reform
Moreover, four months after the labour reform came into force, its positive effects on the reduction of precariousness continue to be seen. In April, the weight of permanent contracts continued to increase and there were 1,350,000 more workers on this type of contract than a year ago, with growth accelerating in recent months, at over 10% year-on-year, as shown in the graph below.
Compared to the norm before the pandemic in an April, there were almost 900,000 more permanent workers registered, of which 645,000 are permanent and another 233,000 are temporary.
On the other hand, in April, the proportion of permanent contracts continued to increase: 77% of affiliates have permanent contracts, which is 6 points higher than before the pandemic. In the years before the pandemic, this distribution was 71% permanent.
A decrease in the number of very short-term contracts signed at the beginning of 2022, following the introduction of a new disincentive on 1 January, can also be appreciated. Contracts of fewer than seven days have reduced from 75.8% of the total number of contracts signed in April in the years prior to the pandemic to 28%.
In addition, the increased survival of the contracts has been verified. Whereas in previous years only 8.4% of contracts signed since the beginning of the year were still in force in March, this year this percentage has risen to 46.7%. This trend towards a reduction in very short-term contracts following the disincentive introduced in the labour reform is becoming more pronounced as the months of 2022 progress.
Without the seasonally adjustment, the average Social Security affiliation increased by 184,577 people, ending the month with 20,019,080 recorded. This figure represents year-on-year growth of almost one million people (963,782), an increase of 5% compared to April last year. In the last month, there has been a particularly strong increase in the General Regime in Hotel and Catering (8.94%) and Artistic and Entertainment and Information Activities (2.43%). The Balearic Islands stood out this month, where average affiliation grew by 10.9%.
On the other hand, ERTE-ETOPs stabilised at around 17,000 protected workers, after a slight upturn at the end of 2021 due to the disruption of the supply chain and in mid-March, coinciding with the stoppages in the transport sector.
Non official translation
