The labor market has noticed the ravages of the covid in 2020 by registering an increase in unemployment of 527,900 people, which is 16.5% more than in 2019, and a decline in employment of 622,600 workers (-3.1%) , reflecting in both cases the worst annual data from the EPA since 2012. The unemployment rate at the end of 2020 stands, therefore, at 16.13%.
The rise in unemployment in 2020 ends a seven-year streak of declines and also cuts six consecutive years of net job creation.
The unemployment rate stood at 16.13% at the end of 2020, a percentage more than two points higher than that of 2019 and which means returning to 2017 levels, while the total number of unemployed closed the year at 3,719,800 people and that of employed, at 19,344,300, according to data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) published this Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Youth unemployment above 40%
The number of unemployed young people under the age of 25 increased by 109,600 people in 2020, which is 23.7% more than in 2019, placing the total number of unemployed young people at 572,400 at the end of last year.
The youth unemployment rate thus stands at 40.1% at the end of 2020, almost ten points more than that of the previous year (30.5%), but three tenths lower than that of the third quarter of 2020, when unemployment of young people under 25 years of age stood at 40.4%.
If the unemployment rate of those under 25 years of age at the end of 2020 is compared with that registered at the end of other years, that of 2020 is the highest since 2016 (42.9%).
It must be taken into account that those affected by a Temporary Employment Regulation File (ERTE) with suspension of employment, according to the methodology of the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) that is applied in the EPA, they are considered occupied.
These figures were reached after unemployment fell by 3,100 people (-0.08%) in the fourth quarter of 2020 and employment increased by 167,400 people (+0.87%), its second highest growth since 2005 despite the second and third wave of the pandemic.
The creation of 737,100 jobs in the second half of the year made it possible to recover 55% of the jobs lost during the first part of 2020.
The average annual unemployment rate stood at 15.5% last year, above the Government’s forecasts.
All the jobs destroyed in 2020 belonged to the private sector, where 748,400 jobs (-4.4%) disappeared, in contrast to the creation of 125,800 jobs in the public sector (+3.8%). Thus, 2020 closed with 15.9 million employed in the private sector and 3,379,100 workers in the public sector.
In 2020, employment fell in all economic sectors, especially in services (-537,100 jobs) and in industry, where 70,100 jobs were lost.
decrease activity
The number of active people decreased by 94,700 in 2020, 0.4% compared to 2019, with which the active population in Spain was made up of 23,064,100 people, of which 19.34 million were employed and 3.71 million unemployed. In the last quarter of last year, the volume of assets increased by 164,300 people (+0.7%), placing the activity rate at 58.19%, half a point less than in 2019.
Households skyrocket with all their members unemployed
Households with all their members unemployed rose by 183,900 in 2020, 18.1% compared to 2019, to stand at 1,197,000, its highest figure at the end of the year since 2017, according to data from the Active Population Survey.
In the last quarter of 2020, with the arrival of the second and third waves of the pandemic, households with all their members unemployed increased by 24,300, 2% more than the previous quarter.
For their part, households with all their members employed fell last year by 397,300 (-3.7%), up to a total of 10,401,300 households. However, in the last three months of last year, families with all their employed members increased by 70,500 (+0.7%). Households in which there are no assets rose by 75,100 in the whole of last year (+1.4%), up to 5.29 million. In the last quarter, these households decreased by 54,100 (-1%).
“Positive” data for Minister Calviño
The Third Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, has affirmed that the EPA data for the fourth quarter of 2020 are “positive” and better than the forecasts of the Executive and national and international organizations, and has made it possible to recover the 19.3 million employed, up to 2018 levels.
Calviño has highlighted that, despite the second and third wave of infections, employment increased by 167,400 people in the fourth quarter of last year, the second largest increase in 2005, which has made it possible to recover the 19.3 million employed, up to 2018 levels. In this way, he has highlighted that job creation in the second part of 2020 has made it possible to recover “a good part of what was lost in the first semester”, to which is added that in the fourth quarter the number of people under a Temporary Employment Regulation File and the number of hours worked continued to recover.
In the same way, it has valued the increase in employment and activity “especially notable” for women, although unemployment continues to be registered, which especially affects women and young people, with unemployment rates of 18.3% and 40.1 %, respectively.
The vice president has assured that the data confirm that the measures adopted since March are being “effective” to protect the productive fabric and employment, although she has marked the evolution of the pandemic, of the economy as key aspects in the face of the “intense uncertainty” international, since the third wave “particularly hits the main markets for exports of goods and services”, despite the fact that the risk of the strongest geopolitical tensions has been reduced.
Facebook Comments
Disqus