The 7,927 regular lay-offs recorded in May compare to 15,529 in April, of which 4,906 were reductions in working hours and 3,021 suspension of work contracts.

According to the Synthesis of statistical information of Social Security prepared by the Office of Strategy and Planning (GEP) of the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, the 3,021 benefits that in May resulted from temporary suspension of the work contract correspond to 1,904 less than those observed in the previous month.

The 4,906 lay-off situations foreseen in the Labour Code associated to the reduction of working hours correspond to 5,689 fewer beneficiaries than the total registered in April.

These benefits were processed for 309 employers (24 less than in the previous month), notes the same information from the GEP.

In May 2020 there were 2,547 workers in ‘lay-off’ (1,841 of which with temporary suspension) and 184 employers in this situation. Recall, however, that at that time was still in full force the ‘lay-off’ simplified ‘lay-off’ , a measure created by the Government to mitigate the impact of the pandemic in the decline of business activity.

The data released on 21 June revealed, on the other hand, that in May 2021 Social Security processed the payment of 2,054,699 old age pensions, 2,145 less than in the same month of 2020 and 16 less than in April.

The number of old-age pensions processed in May corresponds, moreover, to the fifth consecutive month of decline in these pensions, with the largest monthly drop occurring between January and February.

Old age pensions represent around 70 percent of those processed by Social Security, with survivor’s pensions (which in May totalled 721,513) representing 24 percent and disability pensions (a total of 178,944) 6 percent.

According to the Synthesis of Statistical Information of Social Security published recently, in April, the number of individuals with contributions declared to Social Security was 357,325 independent workers, 25,428 less than the previous month, while dependent workers with declared remuneration rose to 3,608,148, reflecting an increase of 13,243 when compared with the previous month.

In a year-on-year comparison, a drop of 7.4 percent or less 28,421 contributions declared by the self-employed and 67,688 more salaries declared by dependent workers (1.9 percent) should be noted.

The average monthly value of salaries declared by employers regarding dependent workers was 1,164.17 Euros, in April 2021, registering a year-on-year growth of 4.7 percent, the GEP also indicates.