Unemployment fell by 33,405 people in March and 193,585 jobs were created due to the Easter effect

The total unemployment figure stood at 2,727,003 people, above 2.7 million for the eighth consecutive month.

According to data published this Tuesday by the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy, the total number of unemployed is the lowest for the month of March since 2008. In year-on-year terms, unemployment fell by 135,257 people (-4.73%). .

Unemployment was reduced in almost all branches of activity compared to February, highlighting services, by 31,294 people (-1.58%). In industry, unemployment fell by 2,055 people (-0.96%), in agriculture it fell by 1,502 people (-1.52%) and in construction it fell by 333 people (-0.16%). On the other hand, unemployment increased among the group of people without a previous job by 1,779 people (0.71%).

By age, unemployment among young people under 25 years of age decreased in the month of March by 2,748 people (-1.32%) and the total number of young people unemployed stood at 205,007, the lowest figure in a month of March.

By sex, in March female unemployment fell by 23,009 women compared to February (-1.39%) and male unemployment fell by 10,396 men (-0.94%). In total, at the end of March there were 1,632,557 unemployed women and 1,094,446 unemployed men.

By autonomous community, unemployment fell in almost all of them except in the Basque Country, where it increased by 926 people, and in the Community of Madrid, which increased by 701 people. Among the rest, the biggest falls were those of Andalusia (11,374 fewer people), the Canary Islands (-4,686) and the Valencian Community (-3,998).

Regarding hiring, a total of 1,123,488 new contracts were signed in March. Of them, 504,893 were indefinite and represented 44.94% of the total. Meanwhile, 618,595 were temporary, the lowest number since 1997.

Permanent contracts decreased by 3.54% in March compared to February and temporary contracts increased by 0.75%. Thus, permanent contracts decreased by 18,552 compared to February and temporary contracts added 4,633.

In a year-on-year comparison, both modalities decreased and in the permanent ones the decrease was more pronounced (-17.99%) than in the temporary ones (-11.56%). In this comparison, permanent contracts fell by 110,781 compared to 12 months before and temporary contracts decreased by 80,826.

For its part, Social Security gained an average of 193,585 contributors in March compared to the previous month (0.9%), its second largest increase in this month in the entire historical series, thanks to the boost from the hospitality industry, which added more than 81,000 members due to hiring associated with Holy Week.

After the increase in March, higher than the average of 150,000 new employees in the 2017-2019 period, the number of average affiliates stood at the end of the first quarter of the year at a record figure of 20,901,967 employees, according to data published this Tuesday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.

The increase in affiliates in March is the second highest in the series in a month of March, only surpassed by that of 2023, when the system added more than 200,000 employees.

In the last year, from March 2023 to March 2024, Social Security has gained 525,414 affiliates in average values, with an interannual growth of 2.6%.

In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of contributors to Social Security registered an increase of 77,876 affiliates (0.37%), which led the system to exceed 21 million employed people for the first time in history.

Specifically, March closed with 21,032,661 workers after crossing the barrier of 21 million members for the first time on the 25th.

Within the seasonally adjusted series, 530,843 jobs have been created in the last year and more than 1.67 million compared to December 2019, before the pandemic.

"In March, affiliation marks historical records and the structural change brought about by the labor reform is accentuated, with a boost in jobs in the highest quality sectors," highlighted the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz. .

The monthly increase in average affiliates in March was greater among women, who gained 108,957 contributors in the month compared to February (1.1%), compared to an increase in male employment of 84,628 employed persons (0.77%).

With this increase, the number of employed men ended March at 11,005,817 contributors, while the number of working women set a historical record of 9,896,150 employed, 47.3% of all affiliates, the highest percentage of the Serie.

The Ministry has also highlighted that more than half of the employment created in the last year, 56.7%, has been occupied by women. Compared to the pre-pandemic level, female membership has grown by 11.8%, compared to a 7.7% increase in male membership.

For its part, the average affiliation of foreigners increased in March by 62,573 contributors, 2.3% more than the previous month, reaching 2,734,119 employees, a new historical maximum.

By regime, the General, the largest in the system, gained 175,978 average members in March (1%), up to a total of 17.48 million employed people, while the Self-Employed Regime (RETA) added 15,434 members to its ranks ( 0.46%), which placed the total number of self-employed contributors at 3,352,950.

Within the General Regime, the hospitality industry had the largest increase in employment, gaining 81,151 contributors compared to the previous month. Commerce followed, with 13,643 more members; education (11,744) and administrative activities (10,201).

The only monthly decrease in employment occurred in the activities of households as employers of domestic staff, with 35 fewer members.

For its part, the Special Agrarian System added 7,329 members and the Home System registered 373 registrations.

The Ministry has stressed that the growth in membership compared to the pre-pandemic level is "especially intense" in sectors with high added value, such as professional, scientific and technical activities and information and communications, where employment has increased by more than 16 %.

In fact, according to Social Security, since the pandemic ended, more than one in five new affiliates have joined these two sectors, where the weight of indefinite contracts exceeds 85% in the case of information and communications and 75%. % in professional activities and whose contribution bases are 36% and 15% higher than in the rest of the sectors because they are better paid.

The percentage of members with temporary contracts fell in March to 12.7%, a historic low, while the percentage of employees with permanent contracts stood at 87.3% after growing 17.3 points since the labor reform, according to the Ministry. In the case of those under 30 years of age, temporary employment has been reduced by 33.6 points, to 19.4%.

At the same time, Social Security now has more than 3.3 million more members with a permanent contract than in December 2021, the last month before the entry into force of the labor reform.

In the last year, members with full-time indefinite contracts have increased by 4.7% (429,645 employed), above those with part-time contracts (4.4%, 103,490) and permanent-discontinuous workers (18,174 members, 2.1%).

The average affiliation increased in March in all the autonomous communities. The largest increases in employment, in absolute terms, were recorded in Andalusia, which gained 47,939 members, followed by the Balearic Islands (33,322), Catalonia (32,548) and the Valencian Community (21,495).

In relative terms, the greatest monthly increases in average occupancy were for the Balearic Islands (6.9%), Andalusia (1.4%), Cantabria (1.2%) and Murcia (1.1%).

On the other hand, the Ministry has reported that workers in ERTE for economic, technical, organizational or production reasons (ETOP) stood at 10,335 at the end of March.

In total, as of March 31, there were 11,638 workers in ERTE, of which 10,335 were in an ERTE-ETOP and 1,303 in an ERTE due to force majeure.