Madrid (CNA).- The number of unemployed in Catalonia has decreased compared with last August. Even though there are 4,521 people who lost their job this month, the figure is 11.4% lower than last year’s, which confirms a positive evolution in the labour market and makes this August the best since 1999. The rise in unemployment has affected the services sector more than any other but this is a normal trend as many seasonal contracts terminate in August. In Spain overall, registered unemployment rose by 0.54% compared to last month, which means that there are now 4,067,955 jobless people across the country. Compared to August 2014, the annual trend in Spain is also positive but the decline in the unemployment rate is not as big as in Catalonia: last month it was 8.13% lower than in August 2014.
This August has again seen the usual increase in unemployment which marks the end of the holiday season. The number of unemployed in Catalonia rose by 0.9% compared to last month, which means that 4,521 people lost their job in August, bringing the total figure to 506,306 unemployed. However, this rise is much lower than it was in August 2014 which confirms that the change in the overall trend is “positive and solid”, said the Catalan Secretary for Employment and Labour Relations, Joan Aregio. However, he warned that the number of unemployed people in Catalonia is still too high and that “there is much work to do” concerning this matter.
In Spain overall, the number of unemployed rose by 21,679, representing a 0.54% increase over the previous month. Even though the unemployment registered in August was lower than last year, the decline was smaller compared to Catalonia’s 11.4%; in Spain it was 8.13%.
The rise in unemployment mainly affected the services sectors and is closely related to seasonal contracts which terminated in August. This also explains why Autonomous Communities which rely more on tourism, such as Catalonia and Valencia, have experienced a greater fall in employment than other regions in Spain.
Unemployment drops in all sectors
Taking into account the annual variation, unemployment has been reduced in all sectors compared to August 2014. According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, unemployment in the construction sector declined by 17.55 %, meaning almost 100,000 less people unemployed. As for the industrial sector, the unemployment rate was 14.08% lower at the end of August than at the same time last year and unemployment in the agricultural sector has also declined by 9.27%. The difference is smaller in the services sector: only a 5.36% decline and 151,030 fewer unemployed.
In relation to August 2014, the number of contracts grew by 21,601, which represents an increase in annual terms of 13.7%. In the year to August, 1.78 million contracts were signed in Catalonia, of which around 88.31% were temporary and only 11.69% were of an indefinite duration.
More people registered with the Social Security Scheme
With regard to the Social Security Scheme, the number of people registered in Catalonia reached 3,066,078, representing a growth of 3.36% in annual terms and a growth of 99,584 people compared to August of last year. In Spain as a whole, the number of people was 17,180,899 people, which means a growth of 531,378 individuals and a 3.19% increase compared to August 2014.