Unemployment falls by 9,044 in July and returns to 2008 levels

There were 9,044 fewer unemployed this past July in Catalonia in relation to the previous month, which sets the total number of unemployed at 441,016. Although unemployment usually falls in July, due to seasonal contracts and summer sales, the figure registered this year is situated in numbers not seen since December 2008, according to the Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Security. With this decline, Catalonia has now registered three consecutive years of declining unemployment in annual terms and July represents the fifth consecutive month in which the unemployment rate has decreased. Moreover, for the first time since August 2009, the number of unemployed in the services sector was below 300,000. In the whole of Spain, July posted the biggest decline in unemployment for this month since 1997, with 83,993 fewer unemployed and a total of 3,683,061.

Since 2010 unemployment has usually fallen in July, due to seasonal contracts and summer sales. However, this year not only the services but all economic sectors contributed to this decline.

The services sector took 3,917 out of the unemployment lists in July, 1.29% fewer than last month and 10.28% less in comparison to the same month last year. Indeed, the number of unemployed registered in the services sector has fallen below 300,000 for the first time since August 2009 and stood at 299,068.

The construction sector also saw a 3.51% decline in the number of unemployed in comparison to the previous month and a 20.38% drop in comparison to July last year. Thus, the unemployment rate in this sector has now accumulated 7 consecutive months of decline and since October 2012 the annual unemployment rate has also continued to fall.

There were 56,190 fewer unemployed in the industry sector this past July, a 2.74% monthly decline and a 16.32% drop in relation to July 2015.

Finally, the agriculture sector saw a decline of 405 people this July and the number of unemployed stood at 10,545. This represents a 3.70% decline and in relation to June 2015 the unemployment rate in this sector decreased by 13.62%.

Highest number of contracts for any month since 2007
The number of contracts registered in Catalonia in June stood at 300,852 units, which represents a 3.56% increase in comparison to the same month last year. This is the highest figure registered in July since the beginning of the Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Security’s series, in 2005. Moreover, this is the second time that the number of contracts has been over 300,000 for one month alone, which hasn’t happened since October 2007, when 306,039 contracts were signed.

However, only 10.37% of these contracts were permanent.

Regarding the coverage of benefits for the unemployed, the Ministry of Labour does the calculations in relation to June, a month before the unemployment data for July. Only 250,549 unemployed out of the 450,060 registered in June received a financial benefit, which represents 55.67%. Only 115,913 received a contributory pension.