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27.2% of people affiliated to the Spanish Social Security system have been affected by the impact of COVID-19 on the labor market

The negative effects of the coronavirus and the confinement measures taken to slow down its spread have had a dramatic impact on the labor market. During the months of March and April 2020, unemployment rates increased by 18%, while the number of workers affiliated to the Spanish Social Security system dropped by 4.6%. However, people who have been temporarily laid-off under the government’s ERTE plan, or self-employed workers who have received an extraordinary payment for cessation of activity are not included in these figures. If these two groups are added to the number of newly unemployed people, a total of 5.25 million workers have suffered the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis on the labor market, that is, 27.2% of the people affiliated to the Social Security system at the end of February.

According to the new COVID-19: IvieExpress report by Lorenzo Serrano, Angel Soler and Fernando Pascual, the number of workers affected varies greatly across regions with differences of up to 20%. For example, over 40% of workers in the Balearic and Canary Islands have suffered the consequences of the pandemic on the labor market, while the figure is less than 22% in Murcia and Extremadura.