Date Published: 04/12/2019
ARCHIVED - Unemployment in Spain rose by another 20,000 in November
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
The jobless total in Murcia has fallen by over 4 per cent in the last year
The seasonal nature of the job market in Spain is almost always responsible for a rise in the number of people out of work in this country during the autumn, and the figures for last month which were released on Tuesday morning by the Ministry of Employment show that the results for November this year were the most disappointing since 2016.
A rise of 20,525 (or 0.65 per cent) during the month meant the total climbed further above the 3 million barrier to 3,198 184, and although the overall downward trend was maintained the figure now stands at only 1.68 per cent (or 54,683) lower than a year ago: after six years of steady decreases this is well over 2 and a half million fewer than the peak which was reached in February 2013, but the latest figures again appear to lend support to the theory that the total has bottomed out and reached stability after the rise and fall of the last decade. In July the jobless total reached its lowest level since November 2008 but with the economy as a whole beginning to slow down many feel that any further improvement will be minimal or non-existent.
During November the number of people in work and making social security contributions fell slightly to 19.38 million.
Last month the unemployment figure rose in 12 of the 17 regions of Spain with the sharpest upward movement again reported in the Balearics (22.85 per cent) and the most significant decrease recorded in the Basque Country (-1.36 per cent). In the Region of Murcia, meanwhile, the total rose by 805 (or 0.8 per cent) to 100,624.
In comparison with a year ago the Balearics and the Basque Country also provide the extremes, with an increase of 3.8 per cent and a fall of 6.4 per cent respectively. In Murcia the total has fallen by 4.14 per cent since November 2018.
It should be remembered that the monthly data regarding unemployment which are produced by the Ministry of Employment are usually significantly lower than those featured in the quarterly Active Population Survey (EPA), because the EPA also takes into account those who are out of work but for one reason or another have chosen not to register as such at employment offices. The latest EPA for the third quarter of 2019 reports that there were 3,214,400 unemployed in Spain at the end of September, 3.36 per cent fewer than twelve months previously, while in Murcia the figure reported was 102,000.
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