The Easter effect: unemployment drops by 73,890 people and employment signs the best April since 2005

In addition, 12 months have already passed in which registered unemployment in the offices of the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) closes below the threshold of three million people without interruption, since it fell from that barrier in May 2022 .

This is highlighted by the data published today by the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy, which show that unemployment fell by 234,133 people in year-on-year terms, which translates into a drop of 7.75%.

For the department headed by Yolanda Díaz, the context of April "returns us to the boom scenario prior to the financial crisis, with the lowest unemployment records in the historical series. In her opinion, "both the quantitative and qualitative aspects situate us in a scenario for solid employment strongly anchored to the stability derived from the labor reform".

Of course, the drop in unemployment in April this year (73,890) is less than the drop in the same month last year (86,260). In seasonally adjusted terms, in April this year unemployment fell by 2,646 people.

Registered unemployment in April 2023 fell in the 17 Autonomous Communities, with the sharpest falls in absolute figures in Andalusia (-20,551), Catalonia (-9,506) and Castilla-La Mancha (-6,645).

As for the provinces, registered unemployment fell in the 52, led by Madrid (-6,215), Barcelona (-5,787) and Seville (-5,081).

By economic sectors, unemployment fell in all of them, since in services unemployment fell by 52,216 people (-2.56%); industry, at 5,391 (-2.36%); agriculture, at 4,296 (-3.79%), and construction, at 4,014 (-1.84%).

Along the same lines, unemployment fell in the group Without Previous Employment by 7,973 people (-3.05%).

By sex, male unemployment stood at 1,108,803 men, decreasing by 35,134 (-3.07%) and female unemployment by 1,679,567 women, decreasing by 38,756 unemployed (-2.26%) in relation to the month of March.

In year-on-year comparison, male unemployment fell by 125,315 men (-10.15%), while female unemployment fell by 108,818 women (-6.08%).

By age, unemployment among young people under 25 years of age decreased at the national level in the month of April by 19,848 people (-9.23%) compared to the previous month. On its side, unemployment of 25 years and over fell by 54,042 people (-2.04%).

The average affiliation to Social Security has gained 238,436 affiliates in April, which represents a month-on-month increase of 1.17%, according to data published today by the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security. This is the largest increase in average affiliates in a month of April and the second largest in absolute terms in the entire series (the highest corresponds to July 2005).

The number of average affiliates thus stands at 20,614,989 (10,888,405 men and 9,726,584 women), the highest number in the series. There are 595,908 more affiliates than a year ago, which represents a growth of almost 3% year-on-year.

Regarding the seasonally adjusted data, the number of affiliates to Social Security has increased by 128,824 people in April and also exceeds 20.6 million (20,661,195) for the first time. It is the best April since there are records and closes a four-month period in which 420,301 jobs have been added, which is also the best start to the year in the historical series.

By schemes, the general figure stood at 17,215,525 affiliates in April, after adding 223,688 average affiliates in the month, 1.32% more, and in the last year it increased by 592,407 affiliates (3.56%).

All sectors have added jobs except education, which has lost 1,083 in the month. The activity that has contributed the most, by far, has been the hotel industry (119,618 workers), encouraged by the Easter holidays and the start of the tourist season in many parts of the country. This has been followed by trade (18,713).

In parallel, the self-employed regime totaled 3,335,194 affiliates, with 12,959 more per month (0.39%) and 2,558 more employed in the last year (0.08%). Almost all sectors added affiliates, also highlighting the hotel industry (4,322) and commerce (1,638).

The one of the sea added 1,794 affiliates compared to March (2.92%) and 988 compared to April 2022 (1.58%), up to 63,316 workers.

Meanwhile, the coal regime, with 953 employed in April, subtracted five in the month (-0.53%) and 45 in the year (-4.48%).

By autonomous communities, all have registered increases in workers compared to the previous month. The biggest increases in absolute terms have been for the Balearic Islands (58,832 more workers), Andalusia (52,499) and Catalonia (38,626).

In relative terms, the Balearic Islands was the autonomous community that has grown the most, with 11.92%, followed by Cantabria (1.63%) and Andalucía (1.57%).