Spain´s labour market: The month of March ends with 743,628 people in ERTE (temporary suspension of employment contracts)
Spain´s labour market: last figures about temporary suspension of employment contracts in Spain (ERTE).
As of March 31, 2021, there were 743,628 people protected by ERTE, according to provisional data collected from Social Security. These figures have remained more or less stable since September, indicating that the second and third waves of the pandemic have had a much smaller effect than the first in this regard.
With respect to the end of February, there has been a decrease of 115,913 people if we take into account the revised series based on the number of people affected. According to the notification date (see note at the end of this document), there has been a decrease of 155,755 people.
On average in March, there were 779,562 people in ERTE, of which 555,080 were from RDL 30/2020, 35/2020 and its extension in RDL 2/2021, therefore, with exemptions in Social Security contributions.
Regarding the most acute moment of the crisis, in April 2020, there has been a decrease of 2.9 million people in ERTE, according to discharge date, and 2.6 million, according to notification date. In both cases, they represent a decrease of almost 80% compared to the most acute moment of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of the 743,628 people in ERTE associated with COVID-19 at the end of March, 528,098 -71% of the total- are in some of the modalities that were launched as of October 1, extended as of October 1 February, and that entail exemptions to Social Security.
Specifically, 54,250 people are covered by ERTE of impediment, another 200,056 to ERTE of limitation and another 273,792 to ERTE of ultra-protected sectors and their value chain.
The former have been the ones that have registered the greatest variation compared to the end of February (-33.5%), due to the lifting of some administrative restrictions.
In addition to the 743,628 people in ERTE at the end of the month, 214,756 are suspended part-time. In the month of March, there was a greater drop in ERTE full-time (-14.75%) compared to February 28 than part-time (-10.19%).
Sectorial and geographic concentration
The number of workers in ERTE represents 5.19% of the affiliates of the General Regime (without special systems) with a large sectoral concentration.
In absolute terms, the largest number of workers benefiting from this protection formula, specifically, corresponds to Food and Beverage Services with 243,595 people, representing almost 30% of the total affiliates in this sector.
The sectors with the highest percentage of workers in ERTE are: Travel agencies, with 60.5% of their affiliates in this situation; Accommodation services, with 56.68% of its members under this protection instrument, and Gambling activities (42.67%) and Air transport (42.14%).
Geographically, there is also a significant concentration in the areas with the highest tourist activity. Specifically, Las Palmas is the province with the most workers in ERTE (15.75% of its affiliates). It is followed by Santa Cruz de Tenerife, with 12.5%, and the Balearic Islands, with 10.6% of its workers in ERTE. Guadalajara is, on the contrary, the province with the fewest workers in these mechanisms, with 2.3% of the total.
