- The third quarter EPA puts the unemployment rate at 16.38%, the lowest level since the beginning of the recession
- The 19 million employees have been exceeded for the first time for eight years
- Most employment is created in the private sector, almost everything is full time and the undefined exceed the temporary
- Households with all their unemployed assets fall by 244,400 and those that are all occupied grow by 412,300
The Spanish economy created 521,700 jobs in the third quarter compared to a year earlier and unemployment was reduced by 589,100, according to data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) published by the INE. The increase in employment in the last year is 2.82%, which means that almost all economic growth translates into new jobs. The 19 million employees are exceeded for the first time in the last eight years. Most of the employment is created in the private sector, practically everything is full-time and indefinite wage employment grows more than temporary employment. The total number of unemployed is reduced to 3,731 million, the lowest figure since the beginning of the recession, as well as the unemployment rate, which decreases by 2.53 points in the last year, reaching 16.38 % of the active population.
The new results of the labor market exceed the forecasts and are consistent with the good progress of the economy. According to the latest macroeconomic picture, the Spanish economy will grow by an annual average of 3.1% in 2017, one tenth above the previous estimate. Virtually all of this growth translates into job creation, 521,700 in the last year, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the reforms, the improvements in competitiveness achieved and the reduction of macroeconomic imbalances. Since the minimum level of employment reached during the crisis (first quarter of 2014) more than two million net jobs have been created and the number of unemployed has fallen by 2.5 million people from the maximum recorded in the first quarter of 2013 , while the unemployment rate has been reduced 11 points.
In the third quarter of this year, 19,049 million employees are reached – figure that was not achieved since the same period of 2009 -, after increasing the number of employees by 235,900 in relation to the second quarter. This rate of job creation for a third quarter is the highest in the last 12 years. In terms of unemployment, it is reduced by 182,600 people in the quarter, totaling 3,731 million, the lowest figure since the fourth quarter of 2008. Unemployment fell in the services and industry sectors and rose in agriculture and construction. The number of people who lost their job more than a year ago was 114,900 and the number of unemployed people seeking the first job rose by 11,400.
Last year's job creation has been concentrated in the private sector, with 463,500 more employed, 2.99% more than a year ago, compared with the increase of 58,200 people in public employment (1.94%). 94.5% of the employment created has been full-time (493,000 more people) and the remaining 5.5%, part-time (28,700 more). Employment has been created in all sectors, mainly in services (301,700, 57.8% of the total). In industry it has risen in 139,400 employed, in construction, in 47,400 and in agriculture, in 33,200. Indefinite employees increase by 299,300, compared to 202,700 temporary ones. The temporary employment rate stands at 27.38%, 43 hundredths higher than a year earlier, and remains below pre-crisis levels.
The reduction in unemployment amounts to 589,100 people in the third quarter compared to a year earlier, which exceeds half a million less unemployed annually, a rate that is maintained in the last four years. This decrease is distributed among all sectors, mainly in services and construction. The number of unemployed people who lost their job more than a year ago is reduced by 417,500 and decreased by 45,900 among those seeking the first job. The unemployment rate falls by 84 cents compared to the previous quarter, to 16.38%, the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2008. In the last 12 months, the number of households with all their active unemployed members has decreased by 244,400, to 1,193 million, and those with all their assets occupied have increased by 412,300.
