Unemployment rises by 24,826 in August and remains at its lowest level since 2008 for this month

The number of unemployed people registered in the offices of the Public State Employment Service (SEPE) decreased by 24,826 at the end of August compared to the previous month (0.93%).

This increase is lower than those seen since 2016 and is well below the historical average. For 25 years, unemployment has been rising in August due to the seasonal cycles of the production model. In seasonally adjusted terms, registered unemployment fell by 23,373 people.

Total registered unemployment stood at 2,702,700 people. This is the lowest figure for this month since 2008.

In year-on-year terms, registered unemployment has fallen by almost 222,000, a reduction of 7.6 % compared to a year ago.

Unemployment by economic sector

By economic sector with respect to July, registered unemployment fell in the Agriculture sector by 2,874 people (-2.74%), and in the group Without Previous Employment by -2,672 people (-1.09%)

It grew in Services with 23,097 more unemployed people (1.21 %), in Construction with 4,792 more unemployed (2.29 %) and in Industry with 2,483 more unemployed (1.17 %).

Unemployment by gender and age

Unemployment among women increased by 10,957 (0.68 %) in relation to July, to a total of 1,629,441, the lowest level since 2008.

Male unemployment stood at 1,073,259, as the total number of unemployed men rose by 13,869 (1.31%) compared to the previous month.

Unemployment among young people under 25 years rose in August by 3,919 people (2.13%) compared with the previous month to 187,597 young people. This group has now accumulated 28 consecutive months of year-on-year falls.

Unemployment by autonomous community

In August, the autonomous community of La Rioja recorded a slight fall in unemployment in absolute terms of 49 persons. Unemployment rose in the remaining 16, with Catalonia (7,516), Valencia (3,190) and Andalusia (2,882) leading the way.

In relative terms, the distribution of increases is fairly uniform. Most of the territories show variations of less than 1%.

Contracts

The total number of contracts registered in August stood at 1,088,831. This is a rise of 194,960 (-15.19%) over the same month in 2022.

Of this total, 418,927 employment contracts were permanent, representing 38.47% of all contracts.

The number of temporary contracts registered in August 2023 was 669,904. This is 107,156 (-13.79%) fewer temporary contracts than the same month of the previous year.

In cumulative terms, 5,771,293 temporary contracts were registered in the first eight months, a decrease of 2,265,338 (-28.19%) compared to the same period in 2022.

Benefits in June

There were 1,779,849 existing beneficiaries at the end of the month.

For the first time since 2011, the unemployment benefit coverage rate exceeds 70 %, at 70.82 %, and is 6.4 points above its level of a year ago.

Total benefit spending in July 2023 rose to just over €1.780 billion.

The average monthly expenditure per beneficiary, excluding the agricultural subsidy in Andalusia and Extremadura, in July 2023 was 1,021.2 euros, which represents an increase of 65.8 euros (6.9%) compared to the same month the previous year.

Non official translation