The start of the tourist season has given a strong boost to job creation in the province, with 13,000 more social security contributors in a single month, but unemployment has only fallen by 4,166 people.
At the recent demonstration on 1 May, secretary general of the CC OO trade union in Malaga, Fernando Cubillo, drew attention to this paradox of the Malaga labour market and pointed out the jobs it generates "are taken by people who come from outside the province". No one can deny that this is true: if it were not, the number of unemployed would be falling at a similar rate to that of job creation.
What is not so clear is why this is happening: Cubillo pointed out the need for "more training" and "better wages and working conditions". Employers have been calling for the need to encourage those receiving unemployment benefit or subsidy to start working, and the Junta has called on the central government to make legal changes to prevent the unemployed from rejecting offers which are "appropriate" to their profile, or to make it possible to combine work and the unemployment benefit.
Another reason that may explain the gap between the increase in new contributors and drop in unemployment is the increase in 'fijo discontinuo' contracts, that is, a permanent employment contract for seasonal work. IN This case when the worker is inactive (often during the winter months in the tourism industry), they do not count as unemployed as they have a job to go back to (although they do receive a benefit), but they do stop paying contributions. Therefore, when they are called back to work by their employer, these seasonal workers do not reduce the number of unemployed, but they do increase the number of social security registrations.
Read the whole news here: https://www.surinenglish.com/malaga/employment-hits-new-record-high-malaga-the-20240506123309-nt.html
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