Number of unemployed falls by 119,768 in May in Spain

USPA NEWS - The number of unemployed registered with the Spanish Public Employment Services fell in May by 119,768 on the previous month. Hence, the total number of recorded unemployed now stands at 3,891,403 people, and drops below 4 million for the first time since August 2010.

The decline in the number of unemployed in the month of May is the largest in this month since records began. In seasonally-adjusted terms, unemployment fell by 43,966 in the month of May. This is also the largest reduction since records began in a month of May. Unemployment has fallen in seasonally-adjusted terms in 36 of the last 37 months. Over the last 12 months, recorded unemployment has fallen by 323,628 people. The rate of year-on-year decline in unemployment stands at 7.68% in May.

Unemployment among the under-25 has fallen by 45,853 over the last year, at a rate of decline of 12.4% year-on-year, well above the general average of 7.7%. Recorded unemployment fell in all autonomous regions, headed up by Andalusia (down 21,388), Catalonia (down 15,918) and Madrid (down 12,637). By sector of activity, recorded unemployment fell in all sectors. The services sector posted 78,406 fewer unemployed (down 2.95%), the construction sector posted 15,149 fewer unemployed (down 3.57%), the agriculture sector posted 12,060 fewer unemployed (down 6.02%) and the industrial sector posted 9,477 fewer unemployed (down 2.52%). Unemployment fell among first-time job seekers by 4,676 (down 1.33%).

The number of contracts registered in the month of May amounted to a total of 1,748,449, an increase of 175,156 contracts (up 11.13%) on the same month of 2015. The number of permanent employment contracts registered in May amounted to 145,760, a 16.98% increase, representing 21,155 additional contracts, on the same month of last year. Full-time permanent employment contracts have increased by 17.71% year-on-year, and is the segment to record the largest rise.