Unemployment down to 12.28% as Catalonia creates 189,600 jobs in a year

The unemployment rate in Catalonia has dropped to 12.28%, according to Spain’s quarterly labor force survey (EPA), released by the National Institute for Statistics (INE) on Thursday.

A total of 478,500 people are currently without work in Catalonia, meaning the rate of unemployment has dropped from 12.9% in the previous trimester. 

In total, there are 189,600 more jobs in Catalonia compared to the second quarter of 2020.

The improvement comes in tandem with the lifting of the state of alarm and re-opening of the economy and society. 

This quarter has seen unemployment fall by 4.24%, meaning 21,200 fewer unemployed people than in Q1. Between April and June, employment figures soared with 43,300 more jobs created (+1.28%)

However, the level of unemployment remains far from the lows seen before the pandemic. In Q4 of 2019, the rate stood at 10.45%, while the first quarter of 2021 saw it rise slightly to 10.66%.

In Spain as a whole, the latest data shows the pandemic has seen unemployment grow by a further 175,900 people compared to twelve months ago.

This difference is even more pronounced when compared to 2019 (+313,200 workers).

The rate of unemployment across Spain has fallen to 15.26% at the last count, slightly lower than the previous quarter’s figure of 15.98%.

In line with the trend seen in Catalonia, employment between April and June rose by 464,900 people (2.42%) compared to the previous quarter.

None of this data includes temporary lay-offs and those benefiting from the temporary redundancy schemes (ERTO).