Spain ended 2022 with the total number of unemployed people at 2.83 million, the lowest unemployment figure since 2007, new data from the country’s Labour Ministry revealed on Tuesday.
The country ended the year with 471,360 more people at work compared with 2021, bringing the total number of employed people to 20.29 million, while unemployment fell by 268,252 people to a total of 2.83 million (12,5 %) EURACTIV’s partner EFE reported.
Unemployment fell in December by 43,727 people compared to the previous month – almost half that of December last year, when it fell by 76,782 people – “in an international economic context that continues to be marked by uncertainty,” the Labour Ministry stated in a press release.
By sectors, registered (official) unemployment fell in services by 37,080 ; in agriculture, by 4,922, and in the group of long-term unemployed (people unemployed more than two consecutive years), by 7,155; while it has increased in the building sector with 5,155 more unemployed.
By gender, female unemployment fell in Spain by 37,411 women compared with November 2022, to a total of 1,690,148; while male unemployment fell by 6,316 to 1,147,505.
Unemployment among young people under 25 also fell in December by 12,185. However, Spain remains one of the EU countries with the highest unemployment rates (32.30 %).
The sharpest falls in unemployment rates were in Andalusia (22,280), the Madrid region (6,782 persons) and the Canary Islands (3,124).
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, UGT, one of Spain’s largest trade unions warned that despite the latest positive figures, more efforts should be made to protect workers.
UGT called for more effective policies against long-term unemployment and restated its strategy of social mobilisation to demand fair wage increases and wage revisions in the agreements between workers and employers’ associations.
Unai Sordo, secretary general of CC.OO, on Tuesday told Spanish public radio RNE that employment figures for 2022 are “the best economic variable of the year” and highlighted the “qualitative leap” in permanent contracts.
However, despite the good fresh figures, one cannot be satisfied when there are still 2.8 million people in Spain “who want to work and cannot”, he warned.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)
Source: euractiv.com
