Unemployment falls by 83,993 people, the biggest drop in July since 1997

This July has been a good month for the Spanish labor market, with unemployment falling and an increase in Social Security contributors. The drop in unemployment of 83,993 people registered at state employment offices is the biggest since 1997 for a July, says the Employment Ministry, which now puts Spain’s official unemployment figure at 3,683,061. At the same time, there are now a further 84,721 people contributing to the Social Security compared with June figures.

Non-seasonal employment figures have also improved, suggesting a sustained and gradual recovery of the labor market. Over the last year, Social Security affiliation has grown by 3%, with 17,844,992 people contributing to the state body that pays out pensions and unemployment benefit.

The increase in jobs, measured in terms of affiliation, is principally being driven by the hotel and catering sectors, which contributed 51,412 new Social Security contributors. The health sector and retail contributed 48,192 and 47,337 new contributors.

The end of the school year has seen some 93,062 people leave the Social Security.

In July, 1,816,271 employment contracts were signed, a 1.14% increase on the same month last year. Again, most of these were in the tourism sector or covering holiday periods. Of the total number of contracts, just 7.6% were open-ended.

English version by Nick Lyne.