Press Release 23/07/2021

SURVEY ON POPULATION IN RELATION TO ACTIVITY. II/2021

The number of people in work was up by more than 15,000 and the unemployment rate dropped to 10.3% in the second quarter of 2021 in the Basque Country

The number of households with all active individuals in work rose by 4,000

Data from the second quarter of 2021 on the labour market in the Basque Country estimates the number of unemployed people in the Basque Country at around 108,600 people, 7,100 fewer than in the previous quarter, according to Eustat data. Furthermore, the number of people in work rose to 944,300, an increase of 15,100 compared to the previous quarter (+1.6%).

The unemployment rate of the Basque Country stood at 10.3%, 0.8 percentage points down on the first quarter of 2021 (11.1%). As a result of the evolution in the employed and unemployed population, the activity rate stood at 56.3% in the second quarter of 2021, rising 0.3 percentage points in respect of the previous quarter.

By province and compared to the previous quarter, Gipuzkoa experienced the biggest upturn in employment, with 6,900 more people in work, followed by Bizkaia with an increase of 6,100. Lastly, in Álava, 2,100 more people were in work. Regarding the capitals, in Bilbao there were 2,800 additional employed people, whereas in San Sebastián there was an increase of 2,400 and in Vitoria-Gasteiz,1,600.

As far as gender was concerned, the rise in employment affected women the most, with 8,200 more women in work than in the previous quarter, whilst the number of men in work increased by 6,900. With regards to nationality, the number of Spanish nationals in work was up by 13,800, whilst the number of foreign nationals in work increased by 1,300.

Employment rose in all activity sectors

The working population in the Basque country increased by 9,300 in the services sector, by 4,400 in industry and by 1,300 in the primary sector, whilst in the construction sector it was up by 300.

The employment rate, calculated as the percentage of people in work aged 16 to 64 over the total for these ages, rose by one percentage point compared to the previous quarter, standing at 67.7%. This figure reached 70.5% for men and 64.9% for women.

With regard to level of education completed, the greatest increase in the employment rate was recorded among people with higher education (+1.3 percentage points), standing at 83.1%. For those who had completed secondary or intermediate education, the employment rate rose by 1.1 points to 59%. Lastly, the employment rate among people educated to primary school level or lower increased by 0.2 points to reach 59.8%.

As regards nationality, the highest employment rate was recorded amongst Spanish nationals, with 69.6%, whereas for foreign nationals it stood at 51.7% (+1.0 and +0.9 percentage points, respectively).

By province, Gipuzkoa had the highest employment rate, at 69.9%, an increase of 1.4 percentage points compared to the previous quarter. Álava came second with 69.2% and an increase of 1.6 points; and, lastly, in Bizkaia, the employment rate rose by 0.6 percentage points to stand at 66%.

The number of households without active individuals fell by 2,300

In the second quarter of 2021 it was estimated that there were 901,800 households in the Basque Country, of which a third did not have any active individuals. In almost six out of every ten households, all of the active individuals were in work, 4,000 families more than the previous quarter; furthermore, households where all active individuals were unemployed stood at 35,900, 900 more households than in the previous quarter. The number of households without active individuals fell by 2,300.

The second quarter of 2021 revealed an unemployment rate of 10.3%, 0.8 points down on the previous quarter (11.1%)

The unemployed population in the Basque Country, that is, individuals who are available for work, actively making enquiries and seeking employment, was estimated to be 108,600 in the second quarter of the year, 7,100 down on the previous quarter, which was a drop of 6.1%. The number of unemployed men, 55,600, was down 3,700 (-6.2%), whilst the number of unemployed women decreased by 3,400 (-6.0%), reaching a total of 53,000 for the quarter.

The data for the second quarter of 2021 revealed an unemployment rate of 10.3%, 0.8 points less than the previous quarter. The male unemployment rate stood at 10.1% (-0.8 percentage points) and the female rate was also down 0.8 percentage points, reaching 10.5%.

As regards level of education, the greatest decrease in the unemployment rate was among people whose highest level of education completed was secondary or intermediate, -0.9 percentage points, the unemployment rate standing at 12.5%. For people who had completed higher education, the rate fell by 0.7 percentage points to 6.6%. Lastly, for those educated to primary school level or lower it fell by 0.5 percentage points to 13.8%.

With regards to nationality, the unemployed population figure decreased among Spanish nationals by 4,200, to 81,000. Among foreign nationals it fell by 2,800, to 27,700 people out of work.

By province, in Bizkaia, the number of people out of work fell by 3,100 and the unemployment rate dropped by 0.7 percentage points, standing at 11.4%. In Gipuzkoa, with 28,300 people out of work, the number of unemployed fell by 3,000 and the unemployment rate decreased by one percentage point to 8.2%. In Álava, there were 1,000 fewer people out of work and the unemployment rate reached 11.1%, 0.7 percentage points down on the previous quarter.

As regards the capitals, unemployment was down in all three. Bilbao saw the greatest decrease in unemployment, with 2,200 fewer people out of work, followed by San Sebastián with 600 less. Lastly, unemployment fell by 300 in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

According to EUROSTAT, the Statistical Office of the European Union, in May 2021 the deseasonalised unemployment rate of the European Union as a whole stood at 7.3% and that of Spain stood at 15.3%.

In the last year, the number of employed people increased by 3% and the unemployment rate dropped from 11% to 10.3%.

The employed population in the Basque Country increased by 3% in relation to the second quarter of 2020 and the unemployment rate decreased by 0.7 percentage points (from 11% to 10.3%), with 4,700 fewer people unemployed in the Basque Country compared to the second quarter of 2020.

98.4% of average registered workers were in work, according to ILO criteria

It is estimated that there were 876,300 registered workers for the quarter on average in the Basque Country, i.e. the number of people residing in the Basque Country who were registered for Social Security at the time of the survey. Of those, the PRA estimates that 98.4% were employed, according to criteria from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a total of 862,400 individuals.

Amongst those employed according to ILO criteria in the PRA, 71,800 people, 7.6%, were not registered in the Social Security system, either because they did not work for companies based in the Basque Country, or they belonged to public mutual societies for civil servants, or because they are in other situations.

35% of those unemployed were not registered as unemployed with the Basque Employment Institute (Lanbide)

It is estimated that there was a quarterly average of 106.7000 unemployed people registered with Lanbide, i.e. people residing in the Basque Country who were registered in Lanbide at the time of the survey in any one of the categories designated for registered unemployment. Of those, 63% were unemployed according to the ILO definition (67,300 people). 35% of people unemployed according to the ILO definition in the PRA were not registered as unemployed with Lanbide (38,000 people), even though they may have been registered under other categories of job seekers.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel.: 945 01 75 62