Alex Trelinski
SPAIN has announced the highest number of people in work since the 2008 banking crisis.
Over 20 million people are employed with 840,700 new jobs created last year- returning the country to pre-pandemic employment levels.
The unemployment rate of 13.33% over the last three months of 2021 is the lowest since the third quarter of 2008, when it stood at 11.23%.
It’s also the lowest for a fourth quarter since 2007 when 8.57% was recorded
Analysts of the National Statistics Institute(INE) figures say the post-pandemic bounce-back is higher than expected.
Figures for the fourth quarter of 2021 show that agriculture spearheaded the recovery with over 78,000 new jobs, followed by the service industry with 45,000 new positions.
Economy Minister, Nadia Calvino, said: “The figures confirm the extraordinary recovery of the labour market following the start of the pandemic.”
In the regions, Andalucia created the most new jobs in the final quarter of 2021 with 102,300, followed by the Canary Islands on 59,600.
The major concern continues to be the unemployment rate for people aged under 30, which stands at over 30%.
The figure is well above the European Union average.
READ MORE:
- Pedro Sanchez says Spain’s creating ‘quality jobs’ as unemployment tumbles in 17-year record fall
- 1.35 million jobs lost in Spain during coronavirus pandemic
- Service industry boosts employment back to pre-pandemic levels in major expat area of Spain’s Costa Blanca
