Unemployment in Catalonia falls by 2.7% in May

The number of people looking for work in Catalonia fell by 10,507 in May, a drop of 2.75% compared with the previous month, says Spain's work and social security ministry.

However, the drop is slightly less than last year, when there were 13,378 fewer people looking for work, a fall of 3.35% compared with April 2018.

Leaving the unemployment rate standing at a jobless total of 371,091, the figures also show a fall of 3.75% (14,477 people) compared with May last year.

Of the 371,091 people looking for work at the end of May in Catalonia, some 158,209 were men and 212,882 were women, with 26,844 of the job seekers under 25.

Service sector, biggest fall

As for individual sectors, the biggest fall was in the service sector (-7,707), followed by farming (-1.055), then industry (-987), and construction (-377).

In Catalonia's four provinces, the fall was noted everywhere, with Lleida seeing the largest drop (-8.44%), followed by Girona (-4.84%), Tarragona (-3.2%) and Barcelona (-2.01%).

May also saw 304,711 work contracts signed in Catalonia, an increase of 35,844 (+13.33%) compared with April, with 265,278 of the contracts being temporary.