The number of unemployed registered in the offices of the public employment services fell by 2,921 in March (-0.09%), twenty times fewer than in the same month of 2021, when the number fell by 59,149 people. This year’s decline is the smallest in the historical series, since 1996. Until now, it was that of 2013, when unemployment fell by 4,979 people. In seasonally adjusted terms, registered unemployment rose in March this year by 25,682 people.
Overall, the fall in unemployment in March has brought the total number of unemployed to 3.108,763 people, its lowest level in a month of March since 2008, according to data published on Monday by the Ministry of Labour.
In the last year, the number of unemployed accumulated a record drop of 840,877 people, which is 21.3% less, with a decline in female unemployment of 446,671 (-19.6%) and a fall in male unemployment of 394,206 men (-23.6%).
Unemployment fell among women in March and rose amongst men. Thus, male unemployment rose by 6,298 persons in March (+0.5%), compared with a fall in female unemployment of 9,219 women (-0.5%). So at the end of the third month of the year, the number of unemployed women stood at 1.831,428 and that of men at 1.277,335.
By age, unemployment amongst people under 25 rose by 3.3% in March, with 7,365 more unemployed than at end-February, while unemployment amongst those aged 25 and over fell by 10,286 (-0.3%).
Unemployment only fell in March in the services sector, which reduced the number of unemployed by 18,090 (-0.8%), and rose in the other sectors, mainly in the group without previous employment, which added 6,764 unemployed (+2.7%) and in construction, where it increased by 5,664 people (+2.3%). In agriculture it increased by 1,568 people (+1%) and in industry, by 1,173 (+0.4%).
Growth in permanent contracts
In March, 1,671,841 contracts were registered, 19.1% more than in the same month of 2021. Of these, 513,677 were permanent contracts, the highest figure for any month in the series. This volume of permanent contracts represents 30.7% of the total number of contracts in the third month of the year. This compares with 14.8% in March 2021, when the labour reform was not yet in force.
In the first three months of the year, 4.712,230 contracts were made, 20.2% more than in the first quarter of 2021. Of this number, 1.069,190 were permanent contracts, more than double the number between January and March last year (+130.5%).
