The start of the summer season provides boost to employment in Marina Alta

Monday 19th July 2021 – ÁLVARO MONFORT with Mike Smith

The CREAMA Observatory has analyzed the employment situation in the Marina Alta in June, which has showed that the summer season is a bonanza for the region and that, in the current situation of health and economic crisis, it has provided a boost to the labour market.

According to CREAMA, the data has met previous expectations influenced by two main issues. On one hand, the effect of the pandemic that prevents the normal growth of the labour market is still being noticed whilst, on the other hand, the vigor that the vaccination campaign has taken which has allowed certain activities related to the service sector to be resumed.

Registered Social Security

In June, the number of people registered will Social Security increased by 2,534 to 57,482, a significant rise when compared to June 2020 which represents a 7.9% growth in registrations. The year-on-year growth of 4,221 registrations demonstrates that the level of affiliation continues to increase, with the knowledge that the negative growth barrier will not be broken until one year after the pandemic.

By sectors, job creation during was practically generalized with no drop in membership in any sector except Agriculture & Fisheries.

Unemployment in the Marina Alta

The number of unemployed in the region dropped by 1,099 during June, decreasing to 12,253, a total which CREAMA suggested is “the most significant decrease in the number of unemployed in the month of June, compared to the same month over the past ten years“. Admittedly, not so many jobs have been destroyed in the region since the 2008-2014 crisis. Before the current health crisis, in February 2020, there were 10,990 people unemployed in the Marina Alta.

The drop in unemployment in the last month has been more pronounced in men, despite the fact that, in both groups, the number of those seeking a job have decreased. At the end of June, 56.28% of women (6,896) were unemployed compared to 43.72% of men (5,857). The fact accentuates the gender disparity in terms of employment.

By sectors, CREAMA reports that although there has been a general decrease in unemployment in the region, some sectors continue to be most affected, such as the Agriculture & Fisheries sector with has seen an increase in unemployment of 6.22% (an rise of 15 people). Construction and Services saw decreases (4.55%, 70 people and 8.39% 844 people) respectively, whilst Industry dropped by 4.82% (28 people).

Contracts

During June, 472 permanent contracts and 5,407 temporary contracts were signed. When compared to same month in 2020, the number of contracts have actually doubled, specifically in the case of temporary contracts (an increase of 130.97%), due to the temporary seasonal increase of personnel in the Service sector (bars, restaurants, hotels, etc.).

Compared to May 2021, more than 2,000 contracts have been signed, an increase of 52.82%, although permanent positions has actually fallen by 3.28%, again due to the season nature of employment in the Services sector. In addition, this particular sector has seen the employment of women increase by 58.27% whilst men rose by 47.64%.

ERTE

During June, no more temporary regulation files were added in the Marina Alta which means that the 3,776 ERTE application requested since the start of the pandemic which affect around 15,615 registered workers continues to be maintained. The companies that have carried out ERE, with the consequent closure of the activity, has resulted in 111 people permanently losing their previous jobs in the region.