Portal de Cartagena

www.portaldecartagena.com

• Home
• Business
• Hotels
• Restaurants
• News
• Advertisement

Registered stoppage

The total number of unemployed in the Cartagena Region in March 2020 stood at 30,310 people (see table 1), which represents an increase of 1,858 unemployed compared to February (see table 2), 6.5% more (see table 3).

This data shows that the Region is beginning to feel the economic effects associated with the health crisis caused by the coronavirus.

Unemployment rose in March in all productive sectors, with a special impact on construction (+ 19.7%) and industry (+ 12.9%).

By municipalities, the number of unemployed rose in all of the Cartagena Region.

The largest percentage increases in the number of unemployed in March occurred in La Unión (+ 10.5%) and Cartagena (+ 7.6%).

Unemployment increased both among men and women and in all age groups, especially in the age group between 25 and 44 years (+ 15.5% in men and + 6.7% in women) .

As figure 1 shows, the percentage increase in unemployment registered during the month of March 2020 in the region (+ 6.5%) contrasts very negatively with the decrease in unemployment experienced in March 2019 (-1.9%) and with the average decrease in unemployment in the months of March of the last 10 years (-1.6% for the period 2010-2019).

And it is that although March is a month in which unemployment traditionally falls in the region, the impact of the coronavirus blew up that seasonal pattern.

For the same reason, the medium-term trend of unemployment in the Region, which had been favorable in recent years, changed significantly in March 2020. The number of registered unemployed in the Cartagena Region increased by 1,357 people compared to the same month of the previous year, March 2019 (see table 4), representing an increase of 4.7% (see table 5).

Compared to March 2019, unemployment rose in March 2020 in industry (+ 18.3%), construction (+ 18.1%) and services (+ 5.7%), while it decreased in agriculture (-7.1%), and among the unemployed without previous employment (-13.4%).

By municipalities, and always in year-on-year terms, the number of unemployed rose in almost all of the Comarca, especially in La Unión (+ 9.4%), Los Alcázares (+ 7.1%), Mazarrón (+5, 9%) and Cartagena (+ 5.3%).

The only exception is found in Fuente Álamo, where seasonally adjusted unemployment still fell by 1.2%.

Compared to March 2019, unemployment in the region as a whole increased among men of all age groups and among women over the age of 24, while it decreased among women of that age or less (-5, two%).

In seasonally adjusted terms, the number of unemployed persons registered in the Region increased by 2,630 people in March 2020 compared to February 2020 (see graph 2), which represents an increase of 9.9% (see graph 3).

This data shows the rapid negative effect that the health crisis is having on the economy of the Region.

In fact, with the data available at this time, March 2020 is the largest increase in seasonally adjusted unemployment in the Cartagena region in a month, almost doubling the second, the one that occurred in April 2009 (+1,462 unemployed).

By municipalities, seasonally adjusted unemployment rose in all of the Comarca, especially in La Unión (+ 17.7%), Mazarrón (+ 13.2%), Torre-Pacheco (+ 12.2%) and San Javier ( + 12.0%).

Approximate rate of registered unemployment

The approximate registered unemployment rate (TAPR) of the Region with data from February 2020 decreased to 18.6%, 0.4 percentage points (pp) less than in January 2020 and 0.9 pp less than in February 2019 (see graph 4).

By municipalities, the TAPR was reduced in February compared to January in almost all of the Comarca, with the exception of Fuente Álamo, where the TARP remained stable.

The municipalities in which the TARP decreased the most in February were La Unión (-0.8 pp), San Javier (-0.7 pp) and Mazarrón (-0.6 pp).

With respect to the same month of the previous year, February 2019, the TAPR was reduced in all municipalities.

La Unión is the municipality that presented the highest TAPR in the region (36.9%), followed by San Pedro del Pinatar (21.3%) and Cartagena (21.1%).

The lowest TAPRs in the region are found in Fuente Álamo (9.2%) and Torre-Pacheco (10.3%).

The TAPR of the Region of Cartagena in February was 4.1 pp higher than that of the Region of Murcia, which also fell 0.4 pp to 14.5%.

Signed contracts

The total number of contracts signed in the Cartagena Region in March 2020 was 22,381 contracts (see table 6), which means 2,336 fewer contracts signed than in the month of February (see table 7), 9.5% less (see table 8).

The number of signed contracts decreased in construction (-26.5%), services (-26.2%) and industry (-20.2%), while it increased slightly in agriculture (+ 1.5%) ).

By municipalities, the number of contracts signed in March decreased in almost all those in the region, especially in La Unión (-50.8%), San Pedro del Pinatar (-28.7%), Los Alcázares (-18.4 %) and Mazarrón (-15.3%).

The only municipality in which hiring increased in March was Fuente Álamo (+ 21.5%) due to the rise in the number of contracts in the agricultural sector (+ 37.0%).

To put in context the variation in the number of contracts signed in the month of March in the Cartagena region, the sharp decrease observed in March 2020 (-9.5%) contrasts unfavorably with the slight rise experienced in March 2019 ( + 1.5%, see graph 5) and especially with the average variation in contracting in the months of March of the last ten years, which stands at + 11.7%.

Compared to the same month of the previous year, March 2019, the number of contracts signed in the Cartagena Region in March 2020 decreased by 4,440 contracts (see table 9), 16.6% less (see table 10).

In interannual terms, the number of contracts signed in the Shire in March decreased in all the productive sectors.

Year-on-year contracting fell by 15.1% in the Region of Murcia as a whole, 1.5 pp less than in the Region of Cartagena.

By municipalities, and always in year-on-year terms, the number of contracts signed in March 2020 decreased in almost all of those in the Region, especially in La Unión (-55.1%), San Javier (-33.5%), Los Alcázares (-31.6%), Mazarrón (-31.1%) and San Pedro del Pinatar (-25.2%).

Again, the only municipality where recruitment increased in March, this time in year-on-year terms, was Fuente Álamo (+ 11.3%).

Finally, regarding the modality of the new contracts, 94.3% of those signed in the Cartagena region in March were temporary (see Chart 6).

This represents an increase in the temporality of new contracts of 1.4 pp compared to February 2020 but a slight decrease of 0.1 pp compared to March 2019. The percentage of new temporary contracts over the total of new contracts signed in the Region in March 2020 was 3.0 pp higher than that of the Region of Murcia as a whole, which increased 1.1 pp to 91.3%.

Source: COEC