ARCHIVED - Unemployment in Spain down by just 1.3 per cent in February

The jobless total has fallen more sharply in Murcia than anywhere else in Spain in the last year

The seasonal nature of the job market in Spain is almost always responsible for there being only a slight variation in the number of people out of work in this country during February, and the figures for last month which were released on Tuesday by the Ministry of Employment show that in this respect the results last month were more or less in line with expectations.

A fall of 7,806 (or just 0.24 per cent) left the total at 3,246,993, and the longer-term overall downward trend was maintained as the figure now stands 1.31 per cent (or 42,993) lower than a year ago: after six years of steady decreases this is comfortably more than 2 and a half million fewer than the peak which was reached in February 2013, but the latest figures lend support to the theory that the total has bottomed out and reached stability after the rise and fall of the last decade.

On the other hand, though, the total of 19.25 million people affiliated to the Social Security system and making contributions is the highest on record in the month of February.

The monthly variation in the number of people registered as unemployed during February was a downward one in 10 of Spain’s 17 regions, especially so in the Balearics, where the figure fell by more than 5 per cent, while in Murcia the figure dropped by 0.9 per cent to 101,485.

In terms of the year-on-year comparison, though, the Region of Murcia compares favourably with the performance of the labour market in the country as a whole, registering the most significant decrease since February 2019 of 5.1 per cent (or 5,454 people).

It should be remembered that the monthly data regarding unemployment which are produced by the Ministry of Employment are usually 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 final quarter of 2019 reports that there were 3,191,900 unemployed in Spain at the end of December (before the seasonal increase in January), 2.76 per cent fewer than twelve months previously, while in Murcia the figure reported was 117,200.

Follow Murcia Today on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest news, events and information in the Region of Murcia and the rest of Spain: https://www.facebook.com/MurciaToday/