Huge drop in number of furloughed workers in Malaga province

Last month, only 840 people in the province were still furloughed and the amount paid out by the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) dropped to 45,419 euros. Since March 2020, when the Covid-19 lockdown began in Spain, 772.43 million euros have been paid to 146,325 furloughed workers.

January 2021 began with 38,813 furloughed workers, although the number rose slightly in the following months and reached 44,339 in April. From then onwards it began to drop slightly, with a figure of 35,402 in May, 32,130 in June, 24,336 in July, 17,707 in August, 15,075 in September, and by the end of the year the figure was 9,245.

As a result, the amounts paid out by SEPE to furloughed workers also dropped, from 28.02 million euros in April last year to 3.02 million in December.

And this year the reduction has been even more pronounced, beginning in January with 6,664 furloughed workers and dropping to 840 in July. Payments reduced from 3.34 million euros in January to 45,419.06 euros last month.

In Andalucía the amount of money paid to furloughed workers during the pandemic has been 2,279.68 million euros, nearly 34% of which was for those in Malaga province. The figures also show that 25.4% of the 576,333 furloughed workers in Andalucía since March 2020 were in Malaga.