The number of employed hits 18.9 million in the second quarter of 2009

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.spanishvida.com/2009/07/the-number-of-employed-hits-18-9-million-in-the-second-quarter-of-2009/)

• Employment fell by 0.76%, and the unemployment rate is at 17.9%


• The working population loses 19,100 employed over the first quarter, the first fall since 2001

The pace at which employment is falling and unemployment is increasing in Spain slowed down somewhat in the second quarter of this year, but the job market is still feeling the effect of the economic crisis.

Data from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics also indicates that the working population decreased by 19,100 between April and June over the prior quarter, the first such decrease in 8 years. The employment rate for the population between 16 and 64 years of age is at 74.17%.

Employment fell during this year’s second quarter by 0.76% over the year’s first quarter. The number of employed is at 18,945,000, or 148,000 less than at the beginning of April.

As in the previous quarters, the worsening of the labour market continues to affect men more than women. The inter-annual rate for employment among women fell by 3.76%, while the same rate for employment among men dropped by 9.77%.

By sectors, this quarter’s job losses were strongest in industry (-100,800) and agriculture (-51,100). Conversely, between April and June the services sector saw an increase of 62,000 jobs, related in part to seasonal factors and the arrival of summer. Also worth noting is the slowdown in the pace of job loss in construction (-55,900, compared to -202,800 in the first trimester) attributable to the start of the municipal works in the government’s “Plan E.”

Another important aspect to the evolution of the job market in the last months is the sharp slowdown in the seasonal work adjustment that has gone from a 20% drop in the first quarter to a 1.35% drop in the second quarter. Nevertheless, the seasonal rate continues to fall, and lost two points in the second trimester to reach 25.2%.

In terms of unemployment, the second quarter came to a close with 4,137,500 unemployed, 126,700 more than in the first quarter, compared to the loss of 802,800 job losses between January and March. The unemployment rate for the working population reached 17.92%.

The worsening of the job market is notable, but the number of employed, around 19 million people, is still 1.5 million higher than in the first trimester of 2004.

On the other hand, if one compares the number of unemployed to previous periods of recession, it is important to take into account that the working population and the number of employed is much larger: during the recession of the early 1990’s, there were 12 million employed, as compared to the almost 19 million currently employed.