According to an MPTS report, prepared from the contributions registered by the Salvadoran Social Security Institute (ISSS), between January and November 2021, an accumulated variation of 40,459 jobs was registered.
This is the highest rate in recent years, said Rolando Castro, Minister of Labor, detailing that in 2017 the accumulated variation in the same period registered a positive variation of 10,261, while in 2018 it reached 11,279 and in 2019 it reached 17,681.
Due to the closure of the economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020, there was a drop of 22,533 as of November of that year, which was recovered by 2021, and “we have more than doubled that trend” Castro said.
“As of November 2021, there are, exactly, not projections, but accurate data (…) 40,459 new jobs, which is historical growth considering that the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing” — Roland Castro, Minister of Labor.
For months, the government indicated in 2020 that the Social Security contribution statistics should not be related to the dynamics of job creation. The report presented today by the MTPS, however, takes the ISSS as its main reference through a data matrix from the Labor Market Information System, which brings together other institutions in the labor ecosystem.
For its part, the most recent data available on the ISSS page dates from October 2021, a month behind the statistics shared by the Ministry of Labor, which indicates that both private and public workers reported on the payroll were 903,995.
That figure was 65,755 higher when compared to the same period in 2020 and was driven by the private sector, which reported an increase of 59,013 additional workers, while the public apparatus rose by 6,742.
Primary job creators include:
Professional, scientific, and technical activities are the main sectors leading the increase in contributions in the ISSS as of November 2021, with a 16.3% increase.
The chain of commerce, restaurants, and hotels, transportation, storage, lodging, and food services closely linked to the dynamics of tourism registered a growth of 12.9%, while the real estate category rose 12.6%, the manufacturing industry 7.2%, and 3.6% services.
Labor also reported that employers contributing to the ISSS increased by 1,748 as of November 2021 compared to the same month in 2020, a growth of 5%.
In this rung, information and communications activity led the growth with 9.1%. Meanwhile, companies in the chain of commerce, restaurants, and hotels rose 6%, and the services category 5.5%.