Àngels Valls (ESADE): ''The job market recovery is relying on temporary contracts and services''

“The job market recovery is relying on temporary contracts and services,” declared Àngels Valls, Academic Assistant in the Department of People Management and Organisation at ESADE Business & Law School, in reference to the Q4 2015 Economically Active Population Survey, which was published this morning by the Spanish National Statistics Institute. According to Ms. Valls, “Quantitative improvements have been consolidated, but not qualitative improvements: 64% of the 3% year-on-year increase in employment is due to temporary contracts, and 80% is due to the service sector.” She added: “These sectors, like agriculture, also saw an increase in employment in the last quarter, but they are not characterised by high-quality jobs or full-time schedules, among other things. Moreover, I think we’re seeing another phenomenon: the consolidation of part-time work, which is accounting for an ever larger share of our market, and which is less residual.”

According to Ms. Valls, this new employment landscape could explain a new feature detected in the recent survey – “the fact that women account for a large share of employment gains.” She explained: “It could be that this is the most sought-after type of contract.” Nevertheless, Ms. Valls insisted: “We must analyse this situation in greater detail.” Finally, she noted that the decrease in industrial employment – which she described as “the worst news” to emerge from the survey – also required a more in-depth analysis.

“Women may hold the key to recovery”

Ms. Valls then turned her attention to the relationship between unemployment and economic activity, which she described as “a couple; there can’t be one without the other”. “Although the decrease in unemployment is good news, it’s important to note that the improvement is very marginal among young people and older people,” she commented. “Nor is the workforce participation rate behaving as it should.” Ms. Valls also warned: “The beacon effect of a recovering job market has yet to make an impression on society.” In fact, much of the decrease in unemployment detected by the survey is due to a decrease in the number of active workers, both at the quarterly (36%) and annual (22%) levels.

Ms. Valls once again turned her attention to the topic of women: “The new workforce is predominantly female. Something is happening in the market to make room for them. Could it be the type of work? The sector?” She finished by responding to her own question: “What until recently was the secondary labour market is now becoming a trend. Women may hold the key to recovery.”