Doctors, mechanics, mathematicians and ICT have the lowest unemployment rate in Spain

Workers who have received training in health and social services, as well as in social sciences, journalism and documentation; mechanics, electronics and other technical training, and natural sciences, chemistry, physics and mathematics have lower unemployment rates in Spain than people who chose other specialties or stayed in basic education. This is reflected in the data published this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) from the Active Population Survey (EPA).

According to the agency, 56.2% of the Spanish population 16 years or more have general education, which corresponds to the highest achievers compulsory high school education or graduation.

The rest of the population has a specialty, highlighting the business, administration and legal studies sector (10.7%), mechanics, electronics, other technical education, industry and construction (8%) and health and social services (5.9%).

INE analyzes various branches and concludes that the population aged 16 and older trained in information and communication technologies (ICT) had an employment rate of 80.54% last year.

ICTs are monitored by workers who have studied social sciences, journalism and documentation, with 73.4% of its undergraduate or graduate students. The ‘Top 3’ jobs according to the acquired training are completed by those who specialized in health and social services, since 71.5% work.

In fourth place are those who studied mechanical engineering, electronics, industry and construction (71.49%), followed by those who studied natural sciences, chemistry, physics and mathematics with an employment rate of 70.99%, and those who were educated in business, administration and law (70.77%).

On the other hand, the lowest employment rates are found among those who received training in unknown or non-specific sectors, with 23.6%, and those with general education (46%), with a noticeable difference between men (54.4%) and women (37.68%).

Less unemployment in healthcare

As for the unemployment rate, it is the lowest among people with education in health and social services (7.9%), followed by workers with education in social sciences, journalism and documentation (8.12%); mechanics, electronics, industry and construction (8.17%); ICT (8.58%) and natural, chemical, physical and mathematical sciences (8.75%).

On the contrary, the highest unemployment rates are concentrated among those located by INE in unknown sectors (28.99%); among those who received basic training (16.88%), and among workers in the service sector (16.21%).

But professional specialties that have more or less job opportunities are one thing, and the way in which it is possible to find a job is quite another. Based on the data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) published this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), public employment offices are not good employment agents. Less than 2 out of 100 workers are hired through this channel. A percentage that has been reduced by one tenth compared to 2021 (2%) and which remains more or less unchanged for years, up or down a tenth.

Statistics show that last year 319,400 people got a job thanks to the mediation of the employment office. These data contrast with those recorded by temporary employment agencies (ETTs), whose mediation rate doubled that of public employment offices.

Namely, the number of employees who are employed through a TTE In 2022, it reached the figure of 657,900, which represents a mediation rate of 3.8%. However, this percentage was reduced by three tenths compared to 2021, when 4.1% of recipients were employed in temporary employment agencies.

Land of bosses without subordinates

Also extracted from the 2022 EPA is that most Spanish workers have a boss, but there are no subordinates. Namely, last year, almost seven out of ten workers were in such a situation.

Of the total number of employed persons recorded last year, 9.9% had neither bosses nor subordinates (self-employed), 7.3% were intermediaries; 6.7% were directors of a small company, department or branch; 6.2% were at the head, and 0.6% were in the position of director of a large or medium-sized company.

The percentage of employees, i.e workers with a boss and without subordinatesincreased by four tenths in 2022 compared to 2021 and amounts to 69%, while the percentage middle managers and managers increased by one tenth, and directors of small companies or subsidiaries by four tenths.

On the other hand, the share of self-employed workers (without bosses and subordinates) fell by seven tenths last year, to 9.9%, while the share of directors of large and medium-sized companies decreased by one tenth.

The share of men exceeds the share of women in all types of workplaces, except for the workplace (with bosses and without subordinates), where women exceed men by 11.3 points.

The biggest differences between both sexes occur in employed independents, where men exceed the share of women by 3.5 points, and among directors of small companies, who represent a lag of 3.4 points.

In 2022, the number of employees increased by an average of 617,000 persons, reaching 20,390,600 persons. This advancement in occupation benefited the most from establishments with 10 to 49 workers, with 409,700 more people, and those with 50 to 249 workers, with 269,600 more workers.

In contrast, plants with 250 or more workers were the only ones to reduce the number of employees, with 80,300 fewer people than in 2021.

dependent care

During 2022, a total of 383,500 employees worked part-time to have more time to care for dependents, 7.3% more than a year earlier.

Most of the employees who decided to reduced working hours to perform care work were women, 354,800, 4.1% more than in 2021. As for men, a total of 28,700 worked part-time so they could also act as caregivers, 72.9% more than the previous year.

Less remote work

The data from this sub-sample published by INE confirm the reduction of remote work because the pandemic has been left behind.

Thus, the percentage of employed persons who worked from home for more than half of the day increased from 9.5% in 2021 to 7.6% in 2021, and the share of employed persons who did not work from home for a single day increased from 83.9 % to 85.2%. For their part, 6.3% of employees occasionally worked remotely in 2022, compared to 5.8% in 2021.

Faced with the decline of remote work, the number of employed people who had to work increased on weekends. Thus, 34.5 percent worked at least one Saturday a month, half a point more than in 2021, and 21.3 percent of employees had to work at least one Sunday a month, compared to 20.6 percent in 2021.

Also, the percentage of employed persons with the night shift increased from 10.6% to 11.8%. For 6.6% of workers, this type of shift was occasional, while 5.2% had night shifts more than half of the working days. The percentage of men who work at night with 13.8% is higher than women (9.4%).