Press Release 22/07/2022

SURVEY ON POPULATION IN RELATION TO ACTIVITY. II/2022

The number of people in work rose by 9,300 and the unemployment rate dropped to 8.5% in the second quarter of 2022 in the Basque Country

In the last year there were 23,400 more people in work and 18,200 fewer people unemployed

Data from the second quarter of 2022 on the labour market in the Basque Country showed 9,300 more people in work and 6,000 fewer unemployed people than in the previous quarter, according to Eustat data. There were an estimated 89,200 unemployed people this quarter and the figure for people in work stood at 963,100, 1% more than in the first quarter of 2022. In contrast, in the last year there were 23,400 more people in work and 18,200 fewer people unemployed.

The unemployment rate of the Basque Country stood at 8.5%, 6 percentage points down on the first quarter of 2022. As a result of the evolution in the employed and unemployed population, the activity rate stood at 56.4% in the second quarter of 2022, one tenth more than the previous quarter. In the last year, the unemployment rate fell by 10.3% in the second quarter of 2021 and 8.5% in the second quarter of 2022, down 1.8 percentage points.

By province and in respect of the previous quarter, Bizkaia saw 5,100 more people employed, Gipuzkoa 2,100 and Álava 2,000. With regards to the capitals, Bilbao was the capital with the greatest increase in employment, with 3,800 more people in work, followed by San Sebastián (+1,400) and, finally, Vitoria-Gasteiz, with 700 more people in work.

The highest rise in employment was among men (+4,800), whilst there were 4,500 more women in work. With regards to nationality, the number of Spanish nationals in work increased by 7,700 (+0.9%), whilst the number of foreign nationals in work rose by 1,400 (+1.7%).

Employment increased in all sectors except the services sector and the construction sector

The employed population in the Basque Country was up 14,300 (+2.1%) in the Services sector and 600 (+1.1%) in the Construction sector, however, the Primary sector saw a decrease of 2,000 people (-21.3%) and Industry 3,800 (-1.9%).

The employment rate, calculated as the percentage of people in work aged 16 to 64 over the total for these ages, rose 0.7 percentage points compared to the previous quarter, standing at 69.7%. This figure reached 73% for men and 66.3% for women.

With regard to level of education completed, the greatest increase in the employment rate was recorded among people with higher education (+1.7 percentage points), standing at 85.9%. For those educated to primary school level or lower, the employment rate rose by 0.4 points to 60.7%. Lastly, the employment rate among people with secondary or intermediate education increased by 0.2 points to stand at 61.5%.

As regards nationality, the highest employment rate was recorded amongst Spanish nationals, at 71.3% and an increase of half a percentage point in respect of the previous quarter, whereas for foreign nationals it stood at 55.8% (+1.3 percentage points).

By province, Gipuzkoa had the highest employment rate, at 71.5%, an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous quarter. Álava came second with 69.7% and a rise of 1.2 percentage points; and, lastly, in Bizkaia, the employment rate saw growth of 0.6 percentage points to stand at 68.5%.

The number of households with all active individuals out of work fell by 1,800

In the second quarter of 2022 it was estimated that there were 902,200 households in the Basque Country, of which a third did not have any active individuals, the same number of households as in the previous quarter. In almost six out of every ten households, all of the active individuals were in work, 3,900 more families; furthermore, households where all active individuals were unemployed stood at 30,400, 1,800 fewer households than in the previous quarter.

The second quarter of 2022 revealed an unemployment rate of 8.5%, 0.6 percentage points down on the previous quarter

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 89,200 in the second quarter of the year, 6,000 down on the previous quarter. The number of unemployed women, 44,400 individuals, decreased by 4,300, whilst the number of unemployed men saw a drop of 1,700, reaching a total of 44,800 for the quarter.

The data for the second quarter of 2022 revealed an unemployment rate of 8.5%, 0.6 points less than the previous quarter. The unemployment rate for women dropped 0.9 percentage points, to 8.8% and the unemployment rate for men stood at 8.2% (-0.3 percentage points).

As regards the level of education, the largest unemployment rate decrease was among people educated to primary school level (-1.1 percentage points), the unemployment rate standing at 11.7%. For people who had completed higher education, the unemployment rate dropped 0.8 percentage points to stand at 4.4%. Lastly, the unemployment rate among people who had completed secondary and intermediate education was down 0.1 percentage points, to stand at 11%.

With regards nationality, the unemployed population figure decreased among foreign nationals by 3,200, to 19,900, whereas among Spanish nationals it fell by 2,800, to 69,300 people out of work.

By province, the number of people out of work in Bizkaia fell by 3,800, and the unemployment rate dropped by 0.7 percentage points, standing at 9.3%. In Álava, with 14,400 people out of work, the number of unemployed people fell by 2,300 and the unemployment rate decreased by 1.4 percentage points to 9%. In Gipuzkoa, the number of unemployed people rose by 100 and the unemployment rate stood at 7%, as in the previous quarter.

As regards capitals, unemployment dropped by 1,600 people in Vitoria-Gasteiz and by 200 people in both San Sebastián and Bilbao in the second quarter.

According to EUROSTAT, the Statistical Office of the European Union, in May 2022 the deseasonalised unemployment rate of the European Union as a whole stood at 6.1% and that of Spain stood at 13.1%.

Over the last year, the number of employed people increased by 2.5% and the unemployment rate dropped from 10.3% to 8.5%.

The employed population in the Basque Country increased by 2.5% in relation to the second quarter of 2021, 23,400 more people in work, and the unemployment rate decreased by 1.8 percentage points (from 10.3% to 8.5%), with 18,200 fewer people unemployed in the Basque Country compared to the second quarter of 2021.

97.3% of average registered workers were in work, according to ILO criteria

It is calculated that there were 920,400 registered workers for the quarter on average in the Basque Country, i.e. The number of individuals resident in the Basque Country who were registered for Social Security, weighted by the number of days worked in the quarter. Of those, the PRA estimates that 97.3% were employed, according to criteria from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a total of 895,100 individuals.

Amongst those employed according to ILO criteria in the PRA, 39,000 people, 4%, were not registered in the Social Security system, because they belonged to public mutual societies for civil servants, or because they were in other situations.

30% of those unemployed were not registered as unemployed with the Basque Employment Institute (Lanbide)

It is estimated that there was a quarterly average of 97,400 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, 62.1% were unemployed according to the ILO definition (60,400 people). 30% of people unemployed according to the ILO definition in the PRA were not registered as unemployed with Lanbide (26,800 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.eus Tel.: 945 01 75 62