Unemployment in the Marina Alta increases during the month of September
It is usual that there are fewer jobs at the end of the holiday season, although some sectors are actually saw an increase in employment.
Monday 18th October 2021 – ÁLVARO MONFORT with Mike Smith
CREAMA has analyzed the employment data of the Marina Alta for September, revealing an uneven (but habitual) behaviour in each of the productive sectors. While some have slowed down after the intense summer season, others are picking up the pace after the holiday break. The interesting thing is to see if progress is being made towards an economic recovery or, on the contrary, there is a slowdown in economic growth typical of the autumn and winter months.
Unemployment increased across the Marina Alta during September compared to August, a common trend after the summer season, with 366 more people unemployed, increasing the figure to 12,123 residents of the region. The positive note is that the magnitude of this figure is the lowest for a decade. However, the current unemployment figure in the Marina Alta is higher than in other months of September due to the health crisis. In a nutshell: Unemployment cannot rise much higher because it is already high.
Women continue to be the most affected group, representing 55.56% (6,736) of the number of unemployed compared to 44.44% (5,387) of men. Women are also those who found the most jobs in September: 219 compared to 147 men.
By productive sectors, Services was the only one that increased its number of unemployed people, rising to 9,098. In all the other sectors, the numbers fell: Construction by 1,540 people, Industry by 549 and Agriculture and Fisheries by 232. Something to consider, however, is that within the Services sector, the area of Education saw the greatest drop in unemployment (-17.20%) confirming the hiring of interim teachers with the beginning of the new academic year.
In terms of contracts, 3,785 were signed in September, 3,246 of which are temporary, a figure that is lower than in the previous month. On the other hand, permanent contracts increased by 41.47% compared to August, with 539 contracts signed in September. Both permanent and temporary contracts grew by 186 more compared to September 2020.
The hiring of women continued to increase, rising by 0.44% compared to August, whilst in men it grew by 4.58%. The bulk of contracts signed during September were signed by men (51.84%) compared to 48.16% by women. During this third quarter of the year, 13,517 contracts were signed, which represents an increase of 7.80% compared to the second quarter of 2021 and taken as a reference the same quarter of 2019 before the pandemic.
The number of affiliates to Social Security also fell last month by 2,134 people, a decrease typical of the months of September whose trend is favourable compared to a year ago. Therefore, the figure is positive and has allowed the number of affiliates to be kept above 56,900 people.
By sectors, the rise in unemployment was practically generalized during the month of September. There have been no increases in membership in any sector during this month and the largest percentage drop occurred in the Agricultural sector, which decreased by 16.15% compared to the previous month.
At the end of September, only one temporary employment regulation file was added in the Marina Alta, which represents a total of 3,778 ERTE and 21 ERTE status’ requested since the start of the pandemic, which have affected around 15,619 members of Social Security.
