By
Recorded unemployment has fallen by 147,385 over the course of 2013 as a whole. The State Secretary for Employment, Engracia Hidalgo, said that "recorded unemployment has been increasing at an average rate of 544,000 year-on-year (543,835) in the last five years and that you need to look back to 1999 - when our economy was growing at over 4% - to find a better result".
"The year-on-year rate, which recorded a negative result in October for the first time since May 2007, has fallen more sharply and now stands at -3.04%. Hence, we now have an accumulated reduction of more than 15 points since the figure of +12.5% in May 2012", she said. The total number of unemployed registered with the Public Employment Services at the close of 2013 stood at 4,701,338.
Seasonally-adjusted unemployment fell for the fifth consecutive month, on this occasion by 57,645. "This is the largest reduction since current records began", said the State Secretary. No consecutive month-on-month reduction between August and December has been recorded since 2006.
Falling youth unemployment
Recorded unemployment among the under-25s has fallen by 44,051 over the last 12 months, which is a year-on-year reduction of 9.7%. Youth unemployment fell by 39,742 in December (-8.79%) on the previous month. Unemployment among the over-25s fell by 67,828 (-1.56%).
The State Secretary for Employment recalled that the Government of Spain sent its Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan to the European Commission on 19 December. Together with the Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment Strategy, "we hope this will contribute to maintaining the downward trend in youth unemployment throughout 2014".
Recorded unemployment fell in 14 autonomous regions, including Andalusia (-30,467), Madrid (-14,706) and the Region of Valencia (-14,258), while it rose in the remaining three, led by Cantabria (1,230), Navarre (210) and Galicia (209).
Unemployment fell among workers whose most recent activity was in the service sector (87,253 or -2.85%), the farming and fisheries sector (8,890 or -4.25%) and the industrial sector (1,304 or -0.26%). The number of first-time job-seekers also fell (16,432 or -4.28%). Recorded unemployment among those whose most recent activity was in the construction sector rose by 6,309 (+0.98%).
A total of 1,290,853 new employment contracts were signed in December. Without discounting the temporary effect caused by domestic worker contracts in 2012, this means that the number of contracts rose by 21.95% on December 2012. After discounting this temporary effect, the number of contracts rose by 23.04% in the month when compared with the same month in 2012.
Hiring rose by 3.87% year-on-year over the course of 2013 as a whole.
A total of 83,792 permanent employment contracts were registered, representing an increase of 8.31% on December 2012. This increase rises to 16.37% when excluding the effect caused by domestic contracts.
When discounting the effect caused by domestic worker contracts, permanent employment accounts for approximately 7% of the total so far this year - a similar level to that recorded in the corresponding months of 2012.
Highly positive results continue to be seen in the field of Training and Apprenticeship Contracts - up by 75% this year when compared with 2012 (106,101). The number of these contracts (10,326) in December is more than twice the figure recorded in the same month in 2012. In addition, 3,292 Work Experience Contracts were signed this month, representing an increase of 54.4% on the same month in 2012.
There were a total of 2,801,262 unemployment benefit recipients in November 2013 (1.01% more than in the previous month and 6.7% fewer than in November 2012). A total amount of 2.36 billion euros was paid out in unemployment benefits, which is 1.1% higher than in the previous month and 12.5% lower than in November 2012.
Assessment
The State Secretary for Employment, Engracia Hidalgo, stressed that, "while remaining cautious and respectful of those who continue to seek an employment opportunity, the end of 2013 highlights the positive trends we have been seeing in recorded unemployment and hiring. There are 147,385 fewer registered unemployed than a year ago and 44,061 of those are under 25 years old".
Engracia Hidalgo believes that these figures demonstrate the positive results achieved by the reforms put in place, especially the labour reform, and the other measures and initiatives implemented by the Ministry of Employment and Social Security. She concluded by saying, "these are encouraging figures that spur us on to maintain our efforts towards recovery and employment in 2014".
|
distributed by
|
