The number of unemployed fell in March by 33,405 (after going down by 7,452 in February and 48,760 in the same month last year). The number of unemployed now stands at 2.73M (-1.2% month-on-month and -4.7% year-on-year). Seasonally adjusted Social Security affiliates increase to 21.03M people (+0.4% month-on-month and +2.4% year-on-year).
For Sara García, Secretary for Trade Union Action and Employment of the trade union Unión Sindical Obrera (USO), “we are satisfied that the number of unemployed people is decreasing month by month, reaching record numbers of Social Security affiliation close to 21 million, but we are concerned about the labour scenario that is being built. Jobs are being created which, disguised as permanent, are destroyed a few days later. Or they are hired for not enough days to live on. We must defend workers’ rights and protect them against exploitation by companies and administrations”.
For Bankinter’s analysts, the data is positive, “although it should also be taken into account that it incorporates the Easter holidays. Historically, March is a month in which there tends to be a slight fall in the number of unemployed, some -18,000 workers on average over the last 10 years. This would imply an unemployment rate of around 11.5% (as opposed to 11.76% in the Economically Active Population Survey of 4Q 2023)”.
