Spanish economy creates 434,000 jobs in last year and unemployment rate drops to 20%

The Spanish economy created 434,400 jobs over the last 12 months, according to the data from the Labour Force Survey (Spanish acronym: EPA) corresponding to the second quarter of the year, as published by the Spanish Institute of Statistics (Spanish acronym: INE). This figure represents job growth of 2.43% year-on-year and means that the total number of people in work now stands at 18.3 million. The majority of the jobs created over the last year were full-time and in the private sector, with over half being under a permanent employment contract. Unemployment fell by 574,300 people to a total of 4.57 million, thus reducing the unemployment rate to 20%, 2.37 points below the figure last year. The number of households with all its members out of work fell by 163,800 to a total of 1.49 million.

The EPA figures for the second quarter show that the Spanish economy has maintained an intense rate of job creation and a strong reduction in unemployment. The figure on the annual change is not seasonally-adjusted and shows that, when looking at the first half of 2016, employment is growing at a rate of 2.9% year-on-year, a very similar rate to the first six months of 2015. As regards the second quarter of 2016, 271,400 jobs were created, with an increase of 1.51% on the first quarter. The total number of people in work thus now stands at 18.3 million, a figure which, at current rates, will rise to 20 million people in work by the end of 2019, in line with the provisions of the Stability Programme.

The majority of jobs created in the last year are in the private sector. Specifically, 395,700 people have found work in the private sector over the last 12 months, while 38,700 people have found work in the public sector. The number of people who found work in the private sector in the second quarter stands at 294,600 while the number fell in the public sector by 23,200. The sectors which created the most jobs year-on-year are the services sector, followed by the agriculture sector, while jobs were shed in the construction sector and in the industrial sector, although to a lesser extent. There was also a rise in the number of jobs created in the services sector in the second quarter of the year, followed by construction and industry, while the number fell in the agriculture sector.

In terms of the quality of salaried employment, more than half of all jobs created were under a permanent employment contract, with a total of 223,300 new jobs in the last year, compared with 202,200 temporary employment contracts. In the last quarter, the number of permanent employment contracts rose by 86,400 compared with a rise of 166,300 temporary employment contracts. The temporary employment rate stands at 25.72%, 63 hundredths higher than a year ago. Total full-time jobs created over the last year numbers 451,500, compared with a fall of 17,100 in part-time jobs. There was also an increase in full-time employment in the last quarter (301,100 people), compared with a fall in part-time work (29,800).

Unemployment has fallen by 574,300 people over the last year, representing a decline of 11.15% to leave the total number of people out of work at 4.57 million, the lowest level seen since the end of 2009. Unemployment has fallen by 216,700 people in the second quarter, representing a 4.52% fall on the first quarter of 2016. The unemployment rate now stands at 20%, the lowest since the third quarter of 2010. Compared with 12 months ago, the percentage of unemployed within the active population has fallen by 2.37 points.

Among those people who lost their job more than a year ago, unemployment has fallen by 107,900 in the second quarter, although it has increased by 40,800 among first-time job seekers. Both groups have seen their numbers fall in annual terms. The number of unemployed who lost their job more than a year ago fell by 427,300 and first-time job seekers by 88,900. The number of households with at least one active member, with no one in work has also fallen by 163,800 over the last year, to stand at a total of 1.49 million households in this situation. The number of households with all its active members in work has risen by 368,600 to stand at a total of 9.66 million.