Large distribution shoots up sales by 14.5% while cutting almost 6,000 jobs and blaming the labor reform

Last year, large distribution companies cut almost 6,000 jobs.. In a context of powerful increase in turnover, driven by inflation, and growth of the commercial network, the sector lost workers, until the workforce sank to the lowest levels of the last six years (without taking into account the fateful 2020, impacted by the pandemic). The employers blame this bleeding on the labor reform of the PSOE and Podemos Government that came into force in 2022.

The companies that make up the National Association of Large Distribution Companies (Anged) closed last year with a combined workforce of 229,002 employees, which represents a decrease of 5,826 workers compared to 2021.. An interannual collapse of 2.5% that reduces the level of employment in these companies to the lowest since 2017 (removing 2020, when the workforce fell to 226,263 employees) and takes it away from the maximum of 2018, when there were 235,689 people working in the entire commercial network.

The employers' association that represents companies such as El Corte Inglés, Carrefour, Alcampo, Eroski and Ikea blames this collapse on the hiring restrictions introduced by the labor reform designed by Yolanda Díaz.. «If the flexibility introduced by the large stores agreement, together with the use of ERTE, allowed companies during Covid to adapt activity to the restrictions, the 2022 labor reform (which came into force on March 1) affected to employment in a sector with a marked seasonal nature,” says Anged in its annual report.

The reform referred to by the large distribution businessmen eliminated the temporary contract for work or service and limited the possibilities to eventually hire to cover production circumstances or replace workers.. Some limitations on temporary hiring that, by the way, were endorsed by the CEOE employers' association, of which Anged is a part.

However, the Anged report points out that its associated companies, “which had shown great effort to adjust employment to only a third of what was lost in turnover until 2021, have adapted to the new labor contracting framework.”. In this sense, it stands out that 88.2% of its employees now have a permanent contract, while the remaining 11.8% are temporary, which increases permanent hiring by 11 points compared to the Spanish economy as a whole.

Anged boasts of job stability with more data: full-time contracts represent 54% of the total and the sector has a greater permanence in the job than is observed in other activities, since 62.3% of employees have been working in their company for more than 4 years and this is 9 points more than the average.

In any case, the adjustment in employment has occurred at a sweet moment for companies in the large-scale distribution sector in terms of sales, since turnover soared by 14.5% in 2022 compared to the previous year and reached record of 45,724 million euros, well above the previous maximum, recorded in 2017, when 41,085 million were deposited.

The cut in staff also coincides with a widening of the commercial network, since in 2022 54 new establishments were added, bringing a total of 7,238 including hypermarkets, department stores, supermarkets and self-service stores, textiles, travel agencies, service stations and other specialized stores. .

Inflation drove the strong rise in turnover, with food prices skyrocketing as a result of the energy crisis and the rise in the cost of basic raw materials, which particularly affected the agri-food value chain.. In this context, distribution businessmen have been the focus of criticism, accused of fattening their profit margins at the expense of the crisis, even from the Government itself.

«UNJUSTIFIED ATTACKS»

Faced with these accusations, the president of Anged, Alfonso Merry del Val, defends that “the unjustified attacks” against companies in the sector “are based on a profound ignorance of reality.”. And he argues that “the official data itself shows how, throughout 2022, distribution cushioned 6.8 points of the historical increase in the prices at which our companies buy from their suppliers; an effort that, in turn, has been supported by the rest of the links, industry and primary sector.

According to the data collected by Anged, the average price of the shopping basket of food products grew by 10.5% in 2022, compared to the 17.5% increase on average in the prices at which distribution buys from the industry. So supermarkets cushioned almost 7 points of inflation.

The report also sheds light on the contribution of these companies to the economy as a whole.. As the locomotives of the activity of thousands of companies in industry and services throughout the national territory, their purchases from Spanish suppliers rose by more than 5,000 million euros, reaching 33,910 million, with a weight on sales of 74%.

On the other hand, in terms of its salary and tax contribution, Anged estimates the increase in remuneration contribution and tax payment at 12%, up to 12,083 million euros. Specifically, the amount in salaries and Social Security contributions totals more than 7,150 million, while the direct and indirect taxes paid for Companies, local taxes, regional taxes, VAT, Social Security and IRPF of employees represent a contribution of 4,930 million.