Temporary employment is entrenched in a public sector that loses more workers than the hospitality industry in September

The labor market in September usually has two faces: that of job creation due to the hiring of teachers for the return to school and, at the same time, that of the decrease in hospitality workers, due to the end of the summer season.. However, this year the destruction of jobs has exceeded the most tourist sectors and has also affected public administrations, which in the last month have lost more workers even than the hospitality industry.. September has been a particularly bloody month in terms of employment for a public sector in which temporary employment remains entrenched: one in three workers are temporary.

Social Security gained an average of 18,295 affiliates in the ninth month of 2023 compared to August, according to data released this week by the Ministry of Inclusion. The positive growth in the volume of workers, up to a total of 20.72 million, has been fundamentally due to the push of education, which added 85,817 new jobs. This increase compensated for the destruction of 40,024 jobs in the commerce sector and 32,223 in hospitality, declines in membership that are usually common in the month of September, coinciding with the final blows of the summer.. In the ninth month of 2022, for example, both sectors lost 36,279 and 33,442 workers respectively.

However, commerce and hospitality were not the only sectors where occupancy decreased in September. Also notable is the drop in membership compared to August of 39,503 people in the Public Administration, including the Defense sector, but not public employees in Education or Health, for example.. In fact, another 9,800 additional jobs were destroyed in the health sector.

The September decrease in the number of Public Administration workers is the largest in at least fifteen years and even exceeds that recorded in hospitality. According to Inclusion data, since 2009, employment has decreased in the public sector in the months of September on 14 occasions – in the entire period, except in 2017, when 1,138 jobs were created compared to August – but it has always in a much more modest way. Until the mark recorded in the last month, the average fall in employment in the Public Administration in the months of September was around 12,230 workers, well below the almost 40,000 jobs destroyed on this occasion.

“Never has a month of September been so devastating for public employment,” say CSIF, who after learning the data this Tuesday demanded an “urgent” meeting with the Ministry of Finance and Public Function to evaluate the situation.. From the union they deny to 20minutos that the Department headed by María Jesús Montero has responded to their request and they are concerned. “We want to sound the alarm, because something like this has never happened before, not even during the 2008 crisis.. Something is happening,” they warn.

According to data from the Ministry of Inclusion, 26.8% of the fall in employment in the Public Administration in September has been concentrated in the province of Barcelona, where 10,573 Social Security affiliates have been lost.. They are followed by Girona and Zaragoza, with respective decreases of more than 4,600 people, while in Huesca and Toledo they are around 2,000. This contrasts the behavior of Madrid, where the Administration gained an average of 1,690 workers in September.

Within the public sector, the Social Security affiliation statistics do not make a distinction by levels of government, so the data does not allow us to identify whether the drop in employment has been focused on the state, regional or local level, since each It has its own organizations and employees. The Personnel Statistical Bulletin counts 2.7 million people working in the public sector, of which 18.87% correspond to the state level, 59.21% to the regional level—increased by Health and Education personnel—and the 21.92% to the premises.

From the Ministry of Finance and Public Function they point out to 20minutos that in the General State Administration (AGE) there has been “little variation” in the volume of employees. In any case, they frame the fall in membership in the “usual” dynamics of employment, pointing to retirements and the end of interim contracts.. “The General Administration of the State has an aging and stressed workforce in fundamental areas and organizations, which makes it difficult to provide citizens with quality public services,” denounces CSIF.. The union also points to retirements and the dismissal of interim workers as possible explanations for the drop in employment and highlights that temporary employment is one of the great burdens of employment in the public sector.

31.1% temporary

According to the Active Population Survey (EPA), 31.1% of the 1.1 million workers in public administrations are temporary, a percentage that doubles the temporary employment rate in the private sector, where 13.9% of The employees are hired under this modality. In the administrations there are proportionally more temporary workers, and they also remain in these conditions longer: 75.1% of public employees on an interim basis or under a temporary contract have been in that situation for more than a year —compared to 55.6%. in the private sector—, while 2.7% have been there for less than a month—18.1% in the private sector—.

The proportion of workers with temporary contracts in private companies has been progressively falling after the entry into force of the labor reform, which precisely sought to prioritize permanent contracts. However, in the public sector, temporary employment refuses to decrease, weighed down by the proportion of interim officials, especially in the regional and local administration.. Overall, according to EPA data, there are communities in which temporary employment in the public sector exceeds 40%, as is the case in the Basque Country (49.4%) and Asturias (41.7%), while others such as Extremadura and Navarra are around that threshold. Only La Rioja, Andalusia, Catalonia and Madrid are below 30%.

Spain has committed to reducing the temporary employment rate in the public sector below 8% by the end of 2024, a goal for which public administrations have launched employment stabilization processes framed in voluminous public employment offers, with the objective of reducing the number of interim workers and improving the quality of employment. “The public employment offers in recent years, although they have been large, must be complemented with a short and medium-term employment plan to guarantee the sustainability of the system,” CSIF claims.. The union also demands “transparency”, streamlining of processes, strengthening of internal promotion and creation of net employment. “Either the processes are accelerated or we fear that the 8% objective will not be met,” they warn.