MADRID, 17 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Social Security estimates that it will close August with 187,000 fewer contributors in average affiliation, although it expects to gain 65,000 more affiliates in seasonally adjusted terms, according to advance data presented this Wednesday by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.

This would be the biggest setback in a month of August since 2019, when almost 213,000 affiliates were lost. In 2021, the average affiliation fell by 118,000 in August and in 2020 it grew by 6,822 people, due to the end of restrictions.

However, the portfolio led by José Luis Escrivá points out that those 65,000 seasonally adjusted contributors exceed the average for August of the 2017-2019 period, of 28,000 people. The assessment of the average affiliation is also positive, since it represents a lower decline than the average of the years prior to the pandemic, below 199,000.

With the August data, Social Security will add 340,000 new jobs since January and 700,000 more than last year, when pre-pandemic levels were recovered.

By sectors, the Ministry highlights that the recovery is more intense in activities with higher added value, such as IT and Communications (17.1%), Education (12.3%) and Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities (9.2%) .

By autonomous communities, the growth in enrollment is also generalized, although the Valencian Community, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands stand out, above 5%.

Social Security continues to associate affiliation with the impact of the labor reform, which is reflected in 81% of permanent contracts registered in August, 12 percentage points more than in previous years. In addition, in the case of those under 30 years of age, a prize of 34% of indefinite contracts between 2015-2021 has gone to 65% this August.

In total, there are 1.6 million more affiliates with indefinite contracts than in the pre-pandemic years.

The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration has also reported this Wednesday that the growth in income from contributions until July exceeds the increase in pensions by more than 2 percentage points

The figures of contributors in a situation of Temporary Employment Regulation File (ERTE) continue to decline, as they assure from the Escrivá portfolio. The data presented this Wednesday shows that to date there are 15,435 workers in ERTE for Economic, Technical, Organizational or Production (ETOP) reasons, 1,293 for reasons of force majeure and 830 in the sectoral RED mechanism of travel agencies.

Escrivá has highlighted on his Twitter account that “for another month, employment remains remarkably dynamic.”

“Our projection with the data in the middle of the month points to an increase in affiliates in August of 65,000 people, in seasonally adjusted terms. So far this year, 340,000 jobs have been created. So far in 2022, the affiliation behaves in line with the average of the pre-pandemic years, good for employment. The expected growth in August also exceeds that of the months of January-July 2022”, the minister has published.