Spain's labor market demonstrated resilience in March, with the Social Security system gaining 161,491 affiliates compared to February, amidst the postponement of Holy Week celebrations until the latter half of April.

This figure, while lower than the previous year's gain of 193,585, is contextualized by the fact that 2024's Holy Week occurred in March, a month also marked by significant rainfall.

The employment growth in March surpassed averages from the pre-pandemic recovery years of 2014 to 2019, which averaged around 140,000 new contributors annually during that month, according to data released by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration.

The current system, with 21,357,646 affiliates, presents a more complex picture for achieving substantial annual growth due to its larger scale.

The annual growth rate for March sat at 2.18%, marking the slowest pace in 11 years since 2014, the first year of net job creation following the 2008 financial crisis.

Adjusting for seasonal and calendar impacts, the Social Security's desegregated figures indicate nearly 21.5 million total affiliates, reflecting a gain of 23,079 contributors from February and 460,148 over the past year.

Unemployment also saw a moderate decline in March, decreasing by 13,311 individuals from the previous month, resulting in a total of 2,580,138 unemployed persons.

This decrease is notably less than half that recorded a year prior when Holy Week coincided with March.

However, it should be noted that the previously mentioned figures suggest a slight increase in unemployment of 983 persons when observing trends more closely.

The preparation for the Easter holiday is evidenced by sector-specific employment growth, with hospitality leading both in absolute numbers and percentage increase, gaining 61,477 job positions or 4.4% in a single month.

Recreational and entertainment activities followed, with a 1.6% increase, adding 5,000 new contributors.

President of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations, Jorge Marichal, indicated that climate plays a significant role in tourist levels, noting a 30% uptick in reservations for Holy Week last week following improved weather conditions.

Staffing firm Randstad projected that the Easter campaign in Spain would lead to approximately 126,260 new contracts, representing a 5.6% increase from the previous year’s 119,590 contracts, primarily within the transportation, logistics, hospitality, and entertainment sectors.

Other significant contributions to job growth included education (14,369 new affiliates), administrative and service companies (almost 13,000 new jobs), transportation and storage (nearly 9,000 new contributors), and healthcare (8,200 new positions).

In contrast, the industrial sector saw a modest increment of 5,121 workers, while agriculture experienced a decline of 5,000 contributors, attributed to adverse weather conditions, as highlighted by the Secretary of State for Social Security, Borja Suárez.

Regarding the nature of new employment contracts in March, Public Employment Services data revealed that 68,110 contracts were signed, reflecting a month-over-month increase of 6.2% from February.

The growth in contracts was similar between permanent and temporary positions, although temporary contracts outnumbered indefinite ones: 41,131 temporary versus 27,000 permanent.

New fixed contracts comprised just over 40% of total contracts, even as the predominance of discontinuous fixed contracts (12,777) and part-time indefinite contracts (5,429) indicated a decline in the overall quality of new indefinite employment.

Growth among self-employed individuals remained at 1% year-on-year, with an increase of 12,102 workers, bringing the total to 3.38 million.

Female employment also reached record levels, with 10.1 million women registered in the system, while almost one-third of new affiliates were foreigners.

The Social Security authorities have noted improvements not only in job numbers but also in quality, with approximately 14.9 million permanent contracts, over 9.86 million of which are full-time.

The share of discontinuous fixed contracts stabilizes at 4.8% of all affiliations, with the percentage of temporary workers remaining below 12% (11.9%), a significant reduction from the pre-labor reform average of 29.5%.

Additionally, the incidence of temporary contracts among workers aged 55 and older has decreased further to 9.7% in March.