Date Published: 05/11/2019
ARCHIVED - Unemployment rose by almost 100,000 in Spain in October
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 increase in October this year was an especially significant one.
The rise of 97,948 (or 3.18 per cent) during the month meant the total stayed comfortably above the 3 million barrier at 3,177,659, and although the overall downward trend was maintained the figure now stands at only 2.37 per cent (or 77,044) 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 may have 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 further improvement will be minimal or non-existent.
Conversely, the number of people in work and making social security contributions also increased, reaching 19.43 million.
During October the unemployment figure rose in almost all of the 17 regions of Spain, the only exception being a minimal decrease in the Comunidad Valenciana, with the sharpest upward movement reported in the Balearics (25.28 per cent), where the end of the summer tourist season affected the figure dramatically. In the Region of Murcia the total rose by 3,327 (or 3.45 per cent) to 99,819, the likelihood being that in November the figure will reach six figures.
In comparison with a year ago, on the other hand, the only upward movements are in the islands, with increases in both the Balearics and the Canaries. The sharpest falls are those in the Basque Country (-5.8 per cent), Castilla y León (-5.3 per cent) and Murcia (-4.36 per cent).
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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