The National Institute of Statistics (INE) has incorporated the figures from the 2021 Population and Housing Census to the Active Population Survey (EPA) for the last three years (compared to the 2011 census that had been used), which has meant a review of labor market data from these three years. Thus, with this update of the census data – which increases the population residing in family homes by 337,600 people – the most important magnitudes of the behavior of the labor market last year experienced the following changes.
The first of them affects the number of employed people, which at the end of last year was 21,389,700, which represented 142,800 more than the existing workers in Spain calculated in the last EPA, which was known on January 26, and which estimated this group at 21,246,900. Although, given that the 2022 figures were also revised, the net job creation in 2023 was somewhat lower than initially calculated, going from 783,000 new jobs to 749,000 (34,000 less than estimated at the end of January). In this way, for the total number of workers to have increased at the end of last year as it did with this review, the net job creation of 2023 was somewhat worse, but was better than initially estimated in 2021 and 2022.
The other two remaining indicators used to determine unemployment in the Spanish economy (number of active and unemployed) also experienced slight changes, which raised the unemployment rate four hundredths from 11.76% to 11.8%. Thus, the number of total active people (people of age and willingness to work, whether or not they have a job) also increased to 24,250,600 people, 173,200 more compared to the calculation of the old series. And, as happened with the employed, the net increase in assets in 2023 was 528,300 instead of the 589,600 published in the EPA at the end of January (61,300 less). Added to this is that in the new population base the number of inactive people stands at 229,000 more people than had been estimated for the fourth quarter of 2023. Thus, the activity rate decreased slightly from 58.9% to 58.8%. %.
While, on the contrary, the total number of unemployed last year was somewhat higher than that counted with the 2011 census base, registering 2,860,800 unemployed, compared to 2,830,600 in the last known EPA (30,300 more). But after operating the changes of the last three years, the net unemployment balance in 2023 was somewhat better, with 220,800 fewer unemployed in the last year, compared to the 193,400 previously calculated.
In short, these revisions indicate in global terms that the total number of active and employed people is greater with the new population figures, although these improvements were distributed in the last three years in greater intensity, leaving the increases in these two indicators in 2023 slightly below what was calculated in the last EPA. Regarding unemployment, the new official number of unemployed is worse than the previous one, despite the fact that unemployment was cut more in the last year than calculated with the 2011 census.
From the INE they have explained that “the publication of new series of population figures requires reviewing the data from household surveys, which are based on these population totals. This is a common procedure, provided for in the survey methodology itself and recommended by the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat).” Furthermore, they add that it is not a review that exclusively affects the EPA, but is common to all household surveys in almost all EU countries and is carried out every decade. “In the Spanish case, with the entry into force of the new annual censuses, these decennial updates of the EPA will no longer be necessary in the future,” the Spanish statistical office indicates.