ARCHIVED - Lowest unemployment figure in Spain for 11 years but the figure seems to be bottoming out

The third quarter saw an increase of 6,000 in the jobless total in Murcia

The Spanish government’s central statistics unit published its Active Population Survey (EPA) relating to the third quarter of 2019 on Thursday, reporting that the number of people out of work across the country fell by just 16,200 (or 0.5 per cent) between 1st July and 30th September to 3,214,400.

A decrease in the number of people out of work is the norm in Spain in the third quarter of the year as seasonal employment in the tourism sector reduces queues at employment offices, but despite the latest figure being the lowest reported since the last quarter of 2008 the results for the three months are not completely positive. The fall in the jobless total is the least significant in any third quarter since 2013, and there are definite signs that the figure is close to bottoming out with an unemployment rate of just under 14 per cent among the active population.

The figure is now almost exactly half of the 6.27 million which was reached in the first quarter of 2013 and has fallen over the last twelve months by 3.36 per cent (or 111,600).

During the third quarter there was a wide disparity in the trends regarding unemployment figures among Spain’s 17 regions. In the Balearics a decrease of over 30 per cent was recorded as jobs were generated during the summer tourist season (although the figure was 15 per cent higher than in the third quarter of 2018), while at the other end of the scale there were increases of 7.57 per cent in Navarra and 6.29 per cent in the Region of Murcia.

The case of Murcia is a curious one, as over the last 12 months there has been a drop of 12 per cent in the number of people out of work, the second most significant in the country, and the number of people in employment has risen by 3.86 per cent, the most positive figure in any region. The unemployment total now stands at 102,000 according to the EPA, 6,000 more than in the previous quarter but 14,200 lower than a year ago, and it is worth bearing in mind that five and a half years ago, in the first quarter of 2013, the figure was well over double its current level at 215,400!

NOTE: It should be pointed out that the figures contained in the quarterly EPA are almost always higher than those which are reported on a monthly basis, although on this occasion the difference in Murcia is minimal. This is because the monthly data include only those who are registered as being out of work at their local employment offices, whilst the EPA also takes into account those who are unemployed but, for one reason or another, have chosen not to register as such.

The latest monthly registered unemployment data for September show a total across Spain of 3,079,711, while in the Region of Murcia the data gave a figure of 96,492.

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