Average enrollment remains above 20.8 million workers, the highest level in December. Women represent 47.3% of employed persons and are close to 9.9 million, a series high.

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Social Security enrollment grows in December

The Social Security ended the year with 20,774,625 workers registered in December, discounting seasonality and the calendar effect. This is the best figure in the historical series after adding 533,731 workers throughout 2023. The increase for the year as a whole exceeds that of 2022, a year with great dynamism in job creation. The sum of 2022 and 2023 represents one million more members.

Compared to November, the increase in December is 23,287 Social Security affiliates.

The average enrollment figure remains at historical levels, with 20,836,010 members, the highest in the original series for December. In the daily series, enrollment remained above 20.8 million workers continuously between December 1 and 21. Compared to November, 29,937 more workers were enrolled. Year-on-year growth in enrollment was 2.7%, with 539,740 more workers than in December 2022.

The good performance of the year is rounded off by the growth in the number of women working: there are already more than 9,850,000 contributors, 300,000 more than in December 2022, and they account for 47.3% of all workers.

“The labour market has registered an exceptionally positive performance in 2023, with a new increase in employment in December. Particularly noteworthy is the increase in employment among women, 55% of the employment created last year is female,” said the Minister for Social Security, Inclusion and Migration, Elma Saiz. “Throughout the year, every month has seen a record high in the series. Spain is showing a commendable resilience,” she adds. “2023 has been a historic year in job creation from all perspectives with which the structural change in our labour market is consolidated. A year of more jobs, of higher quality. For more young people and more women, in more qualified sectors and with less temporary employment.”

Higher employment growth than other major economies
Compared to the pre-pandemic level (December 2019), enrolment has grown by more than 1.4 million people in seasonally adjusted terms. Moreover, compared to the pre-pandemic level, job creation in Spain (+7.2%) exceeds that of the major European countries (France, +5.1%; Germany, +1.4%). The increase in employment is also higher than in these countries since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, during which period it has grown by 5.4% in Spain, while in France and Germany it has grown by less than 2%.

New record for female employment
Compared with the level before the pandemic, female employment also showed particular dynamism, growing 3 points more than that of men in the January-December average. In year-on-year terms, female enrollment grew by 3.1%, 0.9 points more than that of men and, as a result, there are more than 9.8 million women in work. In December, there were 9,856,258 female affiliates, 47.3% of the total, which is the highest in the series.

Youth employment is also growing above average. Since the pre-pandemic level, Social Security enrollment of those under 30 years of age has increased by 10.8%, 3.7 percentage points more than the average growth rate.

The growth in enrollment concerning the pre-pandemic level is particularly strong in high-value-added sectors such as Information Technology and Telecommunications, where enrollment has increased by 25.2%, and Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities, which has grown by 15.8%. Since the end of the pandemic, one out of every five new members (314,000 in absolute terms) has joined these two highly productive sectors.

More than 3.1 million new permanent workers and a minimum of temporary workers
Almost two years after the entry into force of the labour reform, its positive effects in stabilizing employment and improving its quality are accentuated. Overall, there are now more than 3.1 million more members (3,113,643) with permanent contracts than in December 2021, the last month before the reform came into force.

In addition, in December, the percentage of workers with permanent contracts reached 86%, a record high, up 16 points since the labour reform. Thus, the temporary employment rate remains at a record low (14%). In the case of those under 30 years of age, the reduction in the level of temporary employment is more intense, falling by 31 percentage points (from 53% to 22%) compared to the level before the reform.

The effects of the labour reform are also noticeable in the evolution of full-time permanent contracts over the year, which are growing more strongly (5.5% on average in 2023) than part-time contracts (5.2%) and permanent discontinuous contracts (3.7%).

On the other hand, the number of ERTE workers remains at minimum levels, at around 11,000, which represents less than 0.1% of the total number of members.

Significant improvement in Social Security revenues
The strong dynamism of the labour market and the increase in the quality of employment is helping to strengthen the sustainability of the pension system so that revenues from social security contributions have registered a growth of 10.3% up to November (the last month with available data). If the effect of revenues from the Intergenerational Equity Mechanism (IEM), which began to be applied in January 2023, is discounted, contributions grew at a rate of 8.3%. Lastly, the improvement in employment also boosted the ratio of contributors to pensioners, which stood at 2.42, a decade high.