Spain's labour force survey hides 1.9 million 'employed' people with no work
1.9 million people counted as employed report zero hours in Spain's Labour Force Survey. Recalculated, the real unemployment rate would be 17.4%, far from the official headline figure.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
1.9 million 'employed' people who do not work a single hour
Imagine appearing in the statistics as employed, but not having worked a single hour in the past week. It is not a hypothesis: Spain's Labour Force Survey (EPA) includes a table with actual hours worked, and that is where an uncomfortable figure shows up. 1.9 million people counted as employed report zero hours in the reference week. They remain on the payroll, but their output that week is non-existent.
The figure is no minor detail. If that group were excluded, the employed would fall to 20.85 million and the unemployed would rise to 4.4 million. The resulting unemployment rate would be 17.4%, a long way from the story being sold on front pages. And some go even further: adding other items that inflate the employment count, the real unemployment rate could approach 30% or 40%.
One nuance: the EPA does not invent people, it applies the international definition of employment. Anyone with a job who did not work that week – due to a furlough scheme (ERTE), holidays or not being called in – still counts as employed. The problem is that this pool, now gigantic, turns the headline figure into cosmetics.
And the striking fact: almost two million people in no man's land. Out there, the full EPA table is still waiting for someone else to do the maths.
Imagine appearing in the statistics as employed, but not having worked a single hour in the past week. It is not a hypothesis: Spain's Labour Force Survey (EPA) includes a table with actual hours worked, and that is where an uncomfortable figure shows up. 1.9 million people counted as employed report zero hours in the reference week. They remain on the payroll, but their output that week is non-existent.
The figure is no minor detail. If that group were excluded, the employed would fall to 20.85 million and the unemployed would rise to 4.4 million. The resulting unemployment rate would be 17.4%, a long way from the story being sold on front pages. And some go even further: adding other items that inflate the employment count, the real unemployment rate could approach 30% or 40%.
One nuance: the EPA does not invent people, it applies the international definition of employment. Anyone with a job who did not work that week – due to a furlough scheme (ERTE), holidays or not being called in – still counts as employed. The problem is that this pool, now gigantic, turns the headline figure into cosmetics.
And the striking fact: almost two million people in no man's land. Out there, the full EPA table is still waiting for someone else to do the maths.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (12 replies).
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