Alex Trelinski
SPAIN’S March jobless total fell by 13,311 to over 2.5 million- the lowest figure for the month since 2007.
The fall was half of that recorded a year ago, but Easter was celebrated earlier with more hospitality positions available.
It continues a sequence of successive monthly falls with employment figures the highest before Spain’s economy hit the rocks towards the end of late ‘noughties’ when the property’ bubble’ burst and recession kicked in.
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Government figures released on Wednesday showed that 161,491 new jobs were created bringing registered workers with social security to 21.3 million- a new record.
The hospitality sector played a key part with over 40% of new social security registrations coming attributed to it as it gears up for the Easter holidays.
However, it has been a weaker month for industry, which has gained 5,121 workers, and for agriculture, which lost 5,000 contributors to social security due to the bad weather.
Employment Minister, Yolanda Diaz, referred to the continued rise in stable employment.
She noted that March marked a ‘historic'” milestone of 10.1 million women in work and said that 44% of new contracts were for permanent jobs.
As for April, recruitment company Ranstad has estimated that the Easter season will create 126,260 jobs.
That’s an improvement of 5.6% compared to last year, when 119,590 contracts were registered which focused on the transport and logistics, hospitality and entertainment sectors.
