Pamplona (EFE) Thursday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
The data that will be released next week, the Minister of Social Rights, Mari Carmen Maeztu, commented at a press conference, “probably will be good, both in terms of reducing unemployment and affiliation.”
39,300 unemployed people in Navarra
Unemployment, according to EPA data, has increased in Navarra by 2.04% compared to the last quarter and stands at 39,300 people. Thus, the first quarter of 2023 closed in Navarra with an unemployment rate of 12.13%, the ninth among the autonomous communities.
The data from the survey, prepared by the National Institute of Statistics, show that unemployment grows by 6,400 people compared to the last quarter, which represents an increase of 19.54%, and by 5,700 people in relation to the first quarter of 2022 ( 16.84% more).
Disaggregated by sex, the female unemployment rate increased by 2.05% and stood at 12.13% in Navarra, while the male unemployment rate increased by 2.03% to reach 11.69%.
The employed population also decreased by 2.81% compared to the previous quarter and stood at 284,800 people, which means that employment fell by 1.37% in the last year. In absolute estimates, the number of employed persons decreased by 8,200 (4,900 men and 3,300 women).
There is also a decrease of 0.55% in the active population in the last quarter, which stands at 324,100 people. With an annual perspective, the active population increased by 0.83% in the last 12 months.
“Contradictory” data
The counselor pointed out that the data from the EPA “are contradictory” with the trend of registered unemployment in March in Navarra, which reveals a decrease in registrations on job search lists of 414 people and an increase of 2,229 average affiliations to Social Security.
Therefore, he said, “we will have to wait to find out about unemployment next week, when we will have the registered unemployment data, to see the real evolution of the labor market.” In this sense, he has indicated that it is important to take into account the EPA, registered unemployment and Social Security affiliation “to have an x-ray as close to reality”.
In addition, he added, “in autonomous communities like ours, where the population is small, this type of fluctuations can occur, but what you have to see is the trend over time, and in that trend there are no large fluctuations ”.
seasonal component
It has also highlighted that the evolution of unemployment in Navarra has a seasonal component and “from September-October and until March unemployment tends to rise as a result of our productive structure”.
Regarding the evolution of unemployment in this legislature, he declared that, both in terms of affiliation, “we have reached historical levels”, and unemployment “of course the assessment is positive”.
This legislature, he recalled, “has had to face the pandemic, the inflation derived from the invasion of Ukraine, the rise in interest rates and this global destabilization of the banking sector”, elements that “indicate the strength of our labor market, our industrial fabric”.
Chivite stresses that the EPA is “a survey”
For her part, the President of the Government of Navarra, María Chivite, stressed that the data on registered unemployment and Social Security affiliation that will be released next week will be “very good” and will give a “real” vision. of the labor market, compared to those of the EPA, which are “a survey”.
Chivite, who has presided over a reception for the Roma community in Navarra, has told EFE that the EPA data is “a survey, an estimate that by the way does not correspond at all with the real and objective data that the Government is having” .
Next week, he indicated, “the Government will release the real data, no longer estimates or surveys, and the truth is that they are going to be very positive, there is going to be a significant growth in the number of people affiliated with Social Security with respect to to last month and there will also be a decrease in the number of unemployed people”.
In this sense, he has asked the president of UPN, Javier Esparza, that next week “also call a press conference to publicize these positive data, because it sincerely seems to be that he is happy about the alleged bad data from Navarra, which is not correspond to the actual data.
The unemployment data, he commented, in the Government of Navarra “we are following them day by day”, and they are going to be good both in Social Security affiliates, “which we will surely exceed the historical record”, and in the number of people unemployed.
“They are going to be real data, not estimates or surveys, which are going to be positive,” he highlighted.