San Sebastián (EFE).- In April the Basque Country achieved a registration record by close to a million contributors, while unemployment has fallen by 1,191 people, a decrease less than the 3,104 of the previous month, but which places the total number of unemployed at the lowest number in 15 years.
membership record
Social Security gained 2,588 affiliates on average in April, 0.26% more than in March, a rise that is lower than that registered in Spain as a whole (1.17%) and also less than that which occurred in the Basque Country in March compared to February, of 0.66%, when an increase of 6,506 contributors was registered.
According to the data provided this Thursday by the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security, affiliates in the Basque Country added 14,753 more last month than those of April 2022.
As regards registered unemployment, the Basque Country has positioned itself as the community with the lowest drop in unemployment in percentage terms, but the total number of registered in Lanbide is 108,001, a record that has not been seen since 2008.
According to the data provided this Thursday by the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy, Álava has been the territory in which the drop in unemployment has been most pronounced, with a decrease of 1.61%, by counting 31 fewer unemployed and placing the figure unemployed at 19,055.
It affects women more
Bizkaia registered 654 fewer people signed up to Lanbide, 1.07%, up to a total of 60,742, while in Gipuzkoa the decrease was 226 people (-0.79%).
Unemployment continues to affect women more and has decreased among those under 25 years of age by 840 young people, to 8,114.
The Services area has been the one that has pulled the decline with 765 fewer unemployed while 13,141 contracts were permanent, 25.1% of the total signed.
The Basque Department of Labor and Employment considers that the figures are “objectively good” and highlights the high number of Social Security contributors despite the fact that in the last 15 years the population has remained the same and retirements have increased by 85,000.
The numbers constitute “a sign of the strength of the productive fabric and a reflection of how job protection during the pandemic and the labor reform agreed with the social partners are having the desired effect,” says the department headed by Idoia Mendia.
He considers the drop in unemployment among young people to be “particularly significant”, while in the following age groups it also falls, although with more difficulty and in fact, those over 45-50 years of age account for 60% of the Basque unemployed and highlights that the contract indefinite represents a quarter of the total.
The unions, critics
The ELA and LAB unions, however, make a critical reading of the evolution of the labor market.
Unemployment falls “at the expense of precarious employment”, ELA has indicated in a statement in which it has remarked that the unemployment rate in the Basque Country and Navarra “is four points higher than that of Europe”.
“Three out of four contracts in April were temporary” and the data shows that unemployment “has been reduced at the expense of precarious and seasonal employment” in a month that is usually “positive in terms of employment due to the effect of Easter” , affirms the union led by Mitxel Lakuntza.
In the same sense, LAB has declared that “precariousness and instability” predominates and has stressed that “the quality of employment continues to worsen” while remarking that “it is women who have the greatest presence in the precariousness indicators (discontinuous permanent, part-time…)”.
On the contrary, UGT has assessed that in April in the Basque Country there are “fewer unemployed people and more permanent contracts”.
In his opinion, now “is the time to promote specific guidance, training and requalification programs for people over 50, who are 60% of long-term unemployed people in the Basque Country”