Economy
There are not so many employers as a year ago. According to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), between September 2008 and September 2009, the number of private sector's employers declined from 477,054 to 418,478.

The variation implies a 12.2 percent decrease over the last twelve months, equivalent to 58,576 employers less than a year ago.

In the same period, which has been marked by lower demand and an economic downturn, the number of workers and employees in the private sector has also declined whereas the number of free-lancers has increased.

The fall in oil prices in the international market, due to a global economic slowdown, has become a far from ideal situation in the labor market.

The private sector has not only been affected by the contraction of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which during the first half of the year stood at -1 percent, but also by the repeated transfers of workers to the public sector, through the nationalization of companies.

In this sense, the payroll of the private sector has been gradually reduced to the point that at the end of last month it amounted to 4,586,015 workers and employees, 225,155 people less than twelve months earlier.

However, the decreasing rate of employees is not similar to the decline in the number of employers. According to data provided by INE, between September 2008 and September 2009, the negative variation stood at 4.9 percent.

stejero@eluniversal.com

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas

Suhelis Tejero Puntes
EL UNIVERSAL