Catalonia's GDP in third quarter rises 3.4% from a year ago

Catalonia's GDP grew by 3.4% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2021 according to statistics released by the Idescat statistics institute on Friday.

The Catalan economy did slightly better than Spain's, which experienced a 2.7% rise, but worse than the European average at 3.9%.

In terms of quarterly variation, Catalonia's was at .7%, while Spain was at 2% and the EU was at 2.1%.

Per sectors, the service sector grew by 5.1% largely due to wholesale businesses, storage, bars and restaurants, as well as transport. Industry, meanwhile, experienced a 3.3% rise, while construction (1.1%) and agriculture (0.8%) saw more moderate growth. 

According to Idescat, these figures demonstrate that the Catalan economy has recovered from the pandemic slump. 

Unemployment down by 22%

Unemployment in Catalonia in October was down 22% on 2020 — despite it usually being a difficult month for job seekers, even before Covid-19.

Last month there were 377,960 people out of work, while the same month a year earlier 484,559 people were.    

"The reactivation of the economy is a fact that is backed by the data," labor secretary Enric Vinaixa said on Wednesday. "This is the first October since 2007 where unemployment decreases."