Confebask has considered this Tuesday that due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the state of alarm, “Euskadi has registered the worst data in the entire historical sequence in April, both in increase in registered unemployment and in job destruction.”
In a note, the business confederation has analyzed the latest data from Lanbide, which has indicated that the unemployment in April in the Basque Country already affects 138,643 people, the highest figure since 2017, after the highest growth ever recorded.
Compared to the previous month of March, there are 10,430 more unemployed, while in April of last year (2019), unemployment in the Basque Country fell by 2,308 people compared to March.
Only in the last two months of March and April of this year, accumulated unemployment in the Basque Country registered an increase of 21,404 people.
With regard to the comparison of April of this year with respect to the same month of the previous year, unemployment grew to almost 23,000 more people, that is, an increase of 19.9%.
Furthermore, unemployment in the Basque Country rises in all sectors and compared to the State, the evolution is similar.
Regarding the evolution of contributors to Social Security in Euskadi, it has also turned out to be the worst April in history in job destruction, with 18,418 fewer affiliates than in March, and 14,119 fewer affiliates than in April 2019, which means a decrease in the employed population of -1.5% in the last year.
As with the unemployment record, the job destruction is especially striking in the last two months, since only in the preceding months of March and April, the number of registered Social Security has fallen overall by 24,182 people, which implies a decrease of -2.5% compared to February.
The 948,970 affiliates in April represent the lowest figure since September 2018, although, in this chapter, the evolution of the Basque Country with respect to the State average is less bad both in monthly and inter-annual terms.
The head of the Economy of Confebask, Pablo Martín, recalled that the expected behavior has taken place, “very negative, since April was already a month full of confinement with a stoppage of practically all activity and that it has had its corresponding effect “.
Martín has opined that, “probably, these two months -March and April- have been the ones with the greatest deterioration, although we will have to wait for future developments” since “there are many activities that will continue to be closed and others open with great uncertainty.”
“We do not expect good data in May, although we are confident that the bulk of the fall has already occurred,” he concluded.
The data
The number of registered unemployed in the offices of the public employment services in Euskadi increased by 10,430 people in April as a result of the effects of the crisis derived from the coronavirus pandemic, which represents an increase of 8.13% compared to the previous month and places the total number of unemployed at 138,643 people, according to data released this Tuesday by the Ministry of Employment.
Compared to April 2019, unemployment in the Basque Country has grown by 19.89%, with 22,999 more unemployed. During the last month, unemployment has increased in the three territories and Álava is where it has increased the most, in relative terms, by 9.12% with 1,955 people unemployed more than a month before, standing at 23,403 people.
In Gipuzkoa unemployment has increased by 9.04%, 3,082 people are unemployed more than in March, which sets the number of unemployed at 37,179 people, while in Bizkaia, with 5,393 people unemployed more than the previous month, unemployment has been located at 78,061 people at the end of April, which is equivalent to a growth of 7.42%.
In April, the number of contracts signed in the Basque Country was 26,594 and, during the last month, contracts fell by 29,098, 52.25%. In relation to April of last year they fell by 49,988, 65.3% less.
Euskadi loses 18,418 affiliates to Social Security
The Basque Country lost 18,418 affiliates to Social Security in April compared to the previous month to 948,970, that is, 1.9% less, according to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, which nonetheless explains that the greater impact of the pandemic occurred in the second half of March.
According to their data, in April there were decreases in the number of registered in the Social Security in the three territories both in comparison with March and in relation to April of last year.
Thus, in month-on-month terms in Álava the drop was 2.4% (3,898 fewer affiliates), in Bizkaia it was 1.8% (8,998) and in Gipuzkoa it was 1.7% (5,522); while in the annual comparison the decrease was 2.5% in Álava (4,090) and 1.2% both in Bizkaia, with 6,077 fewer affiliates, and in Gipuzkoa, with 3,953.
By scheme, of the 948,970 affiliates in the Basque Country, 776,003 are in the general scheme, which includes the 27,907 registered in the household and 2,072 in the agricultural scheme. There are also 168,819 self-employed and 4,149 in the sea.
In Spain as a whole, Social Security now has 18,458,667 members, which means that the loss of 947,896 employed persons since the COVID-19 crisis began in mid-March and until the end of April.
The biggest drop occurred in the second half of March and in April, as detailed by the Ministry, there is “a certain stabilization of employment”: from March 12 to March 31, 898,822 jobs were lost, while in April only there were 49,074 destroyed at the end of the month.
These affiliation figures at the end of the month better reflect what happened than the monthly average – which is usually provided – and which leaves the decrease in affiliation in April at 548,093 employed compared to March. The average decrease in March was 243,469 affiliates.
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