Active Population Survey (EPA) for the second quarter of 2023: Short-term notes. CGT analyzes the current situation, with record profits for companies and a decline in the purchasing power of the working class in a positive context of increased employment.
The data offered by the Active Population Survey (EPA) for the second quarter of 2023 reflect a path of continuity in terms of job creation. The number of employed people has increased by 603,900 people compared to the first quarter, an increase of 2.95%, placing the employment figure at 21,056,700 people. The unemployment rate stands at 11.6%, and the number of unemployed is estimated at 2,762,500 people; This quarter the decrease in unemployed people has been 365,300 people.
The sectoral composition of employment shows that the creation of jobs has intensified during this last quarter, mainly in the services sector, with an increase of 606,000 employed persons. Within the framework of this increase in employment in the service sector, it should be noted that around 45% of the new occupation has been concentrated in the hotel and catering sector: 270,900 more employed people compared to the previous quarter. To a lesser extent, employment in construction (60,900) and agriculture (1,500) has also increased. On the other hand, in industry the number of employed persons has decreased by 64,500 people in this quarter compared to the previous one.
In relation to the evolution of hiring by dedication regime, we see how both full-time and part-time employment have increased by 561,000 people and 42,500 people, respectively, compared to the previous quarter. However, part-time contracts continue to be a source of occupational segregation, since the 73% of people with part-time jobs are women, of which 23% acknowledges having a job of these characteristics by care and other family obligations, compared to 7% of men with a part-time job. On the whole, more than 1,355,000 people (48%) with a part-time contract He acknowledges having this type of employment relationship as he has not found a full-time job, which accounts for this important bag of involuntary partiality.
In this sense, it is important to highlight that despite the creation of employment and the increase in effective hours worked per week (+2%), unfortunately we continue to observe how overtime continues to be a normalized practice in the labor reality of the working class. More than 670 million overtime hours are performed per week, of which 43% are unpaid. This model of exploitation not only suffocates us but also perpetuates the sexual division of labor and the unequal distribution of time between men and women.
Likewise, another series of problems are equally alarming. On the one hand, more than 355,000 people have been looking for work for more than a year and 760,000 have been unemployed for more than two years. It is also convenient to focus on the significant volume of population (more than 527,000 households) that do not have an income, according to the EPA household data. A really complicated panorama that cuts short the lives of many people due to the impossibility of obtaining a job and a minimum income to live with dignity. On the other hand, andhe youth unemployment stands at 467,600 people under 25 years of age, which reflects a 28% unemployment rate. This continues to be a labor problem of the first order, which hinders access to the job market for a significant portion of the younger population. And finally, it is important to highlight the enormous unemployment that is concentrated regionally in some territories, such as Ceuta (27.3% unemployment) and Melilla (19.42%), as well as in Andalusia (18.05%), Extremadura (17.05%) or in the Canary Islands (15.25%), that they continue to be worrisome realities that polarize the labor situation between some autonomies and others. Apart from the EPA update, this week the profit figures of some of the main companies in the Spanish state have also been published. Large companies such as Banco Santander or Iberdrola have smashed profit records in the first half of the year. Job creation has coexisted in recent years with a significant loss of purchasing power of the population, which is related to the precariousness and lack of bargaining power of the working class in the world of work, which has its correlate in a intensification of the predatory dynamics of the private sector. Profit margins are widening continuously at the cost of worsening the living conditions of the population.
This week, too, we have entered a political context marked by strong uncertainty, after the general elections held last Sunday. The two alternatives that are glimpsed seem to be the electoral repetition or the reissue of the coalition government, in this case with a more unstable parliamentary arithmetic if possible than in the legislature that has concluded. Beyond the uncertainty thrown up by the formation of a new government, there is one certainty: the dynamic of blocks is reproduced, from which bipartisanship emerges reinforced, burying the political cycle that began almost a decade ago. Despite the good news of the fact that for the moment the extreme right is not entering the government, the scenario that is opening up does not allow us to project an improvement in living conditions for the working class as a whole, especially for those the most impoverished population strata, which inhabit a state of permanent crisis.
In any case, focusing on the dynamics of parliamentary blocs and letting the response to the extreme right rest on the health of the so-called progressive political bloc is counterproductive to advancing our agenda. In the first place, it diverts the focus of the conflict, that is, it places the public debate on aspects related to our material living conditions on an essentially parliamentary ground. Secondly, it contributes to hiding and generating confusion around what the antagonisms are, the opposition of interests and the inequality in the relations of force. Through the vote, we are told, “we all have the same power”, and each reform ends up being imposed under the prism of “the general interest”. In summary, the parliamentary dispute between the great parties of the regime defines the framework on which it is possible to advance in the improvement of our living conditions, ignoring that the epicenter of the conflict over the conditions of our social reproduction is located on the ground. of work and the antagonism between social classes.
This framework strongly conditions the necessary work of militant organization that we must develop, since the main instrument to start conquests and improve our living conditions is our organized capacity to exert pressure and be able to face this conflict for an improvement in our living conditions with the greatest possible bargaining power. Delegating, requesting and waiting for our class problems to be resolved as a result of parliamentary debate and negotiation is not a fertile strategy to face the violence that we permanently suffer in our workplaces. A flawed and entrenched public debate in this dispute between parliamentary blocs places the right as a problem and the electoral solution as a solution, some coordinates that do not facilitate other readings of reality and, ultimately, the effective construction of union counterpower.
It is also time to claim solidarity and mutual support with other organizations, social movements and collectives, in struggles against problems and oppressions of a different nature. Dialogue and joint work are essential in order to share ways to face problems that are common to us. Recently, From CGT we share space for debate with other union and environmental organizations to discuss issues such as the eco-social transition that we must undertake in our productive structure or the reduction of the working day. Observing the structure of the labor market and working and salary conditions, as well as the evolution of the benefits of large companies, at CGT we believe that the fight to reduce the time dedicated to work is a priority. The reduction of the working day to 30 hours a week -without a reduction in salary- is a historic struggle, fundamental for the distribution of income in a scenario of constant loss of purchasing power, which would mean a substantial salary increase for workers, in addition to serve as a lever for job creation. This reduction in the working day would also have positive effects on the sexual division of labor, also allowing a better distribution of work and personal time. In short, although the job creation data is positive, an overall reading should not mask the deterioration in living conditions that a considerable part of the working population has been suffering, in terms of wages and precarious working conditions. and of life. The scenario that opens for the coming months is one of political uncertainty, but the defense of the interests of the working class is unconditional, and the time to improve and expand the organization of the working class is now, whoever governs.
July 27, 2023.
Permanent Secretariat CGT Confederal
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