Unemployment fell by 33,405 people in March to 2,727,003

The number of unemployed people registered in the offices of the Public State Employment Service (SEPE) at the end of March decreased 33,405 people (-1.2%).

Registered unemployment stood at 2,727,003 people, the lowest figure for a month of March since 2008.

Unemployment by sector

Registered unemployment fell in Services by 31,294 people (-1.58%), in Industry by 2,055 people (-0.96%), in Agriculture by 1,502 people (-1.52%) and in Construction by 333 people (-0.16%).

The group Without Previous Employment saw a rise of 1,779 people (0.71%).

Unemployment by sex and age

Unemployment fell in March, especially among women, with 23,009 fewer unemployed women than in the previous month (-1.39 %).

The total stands at 1,632,557 unemployed people.

Male unemployment fell at a slower pace: 0.94 % with 10,396 fewer unemployed men than in the previous month and stands at 1,094,446 people.

Unemployment among young people under 25 years old rose in March by 2,748 people (-1.32%) compared with the previous month.

The total number of unemployed young people stands at 205,007, the lowest figure for a month of March.

Unemployment by autonomous community

Unemployment rises in the Basque Country (by 926 people) and the Community of Madrid (by 701 people) and there are fewer unemployed people in fifteen autonomous communities with Andalusia (-11,374), the Canary Islands (-4,686) and the Community of Valencia (-3,998) leading the way.

Contracts

A total of 1,123,488 new contracts were signed in March. Of these, 504,893 contracts were permanent, representing 44.94% of all contracts.

The total number of temporary contracts registered in March is 618,595, the lowest figure since 1997.

Unemployment benefits in February

There were 1,893,595 beneficiaries at the end of the month.

The coverage of the unemployment protection system in February 2024 was 73.19%. The same indicator in February 2023 was 68.11%, an increase of 7.5%.

The average monthly expenditure per beneficiary, excluding the agricultural subsidy in Andalusia and Extremadura, in February 2024 was €1,092, which represents an increase of €21.3 (2%) over the same month the previous year.

Total benefit spending in February 2024 rose to just almost €2.03 billion.

In 2023, the budget surplus has been increased to just short of €5.93 thanks to the recovery of employment and revenue from wage increases.

Non official translation