Unemployment reaches 742,000 in Catalonia at the end of September, representing a rate of 19.43%

Madrid (ACN).- Unemployment has reached its peak in Catalonia and Spain as a whole. 742,000 people were registered as unemployed in Catalonia at the end of September, which represents an unemployment rate of 19.43%, according to the Spanish Ministry of Employment’s latest Labour Force Survey, which was released on Friday. Unemployment in Catalonia increased during the third quarter of the year, with 51,100 more people on the Catalan Public Employment Service lists. In percentage terms, the unemployment rate passed from 18.06% at the end of June to 19.43% three months later, a difference of 1.37 points. It is the worst percentage in 16 years. In Spain there are almost 5 million people unemployed, concretely 4,978,300 people, which represents an unemployment rate of 21.52%. In three months there were 144,600 more people registered, passing from an unemployment rate of 20.89% to 21.52%. Lleida has Spain’s lowest unemployment rate, set at 13.02%

The Catalan Government considered these figures to be “worrying”. However, the Catalan Deputy Minister for Employment, Esther Sánchez, explained that the figures are due to a “complicated” financial environment, and asked everybody to “not stand still” but to work to solve the situation. The Catalan Government approved last Tuesday an urgent action plan to face the high unemployment rates focusing in particular on long-term unemployed. The plan should show its first results in the last quarter of 2011, and especially in the first half of 2012. However, Esther Sánchez, warned that the economic context will still be very difficult in the coming months and that unemployment will remain high. Trade unions condemned the public spending cuts to reduce the public deficit. They said it caused an economic slowdown and was one of the main causes of the increase in unemployment.

There were 3,076,000 employed people in Catalonia at the end of September. This is an employment level not seen since the first quarter of 2004. Since 2011 began, 99,500 jobs have been destroyed in Catalonia.

In Catalonia, during the third quarter of 2011, the economic sector that lost the most number of jobs has been the services sector. 30,900 were lost in the service industry compared to the year’s second quarter. Within the construction sector, 23,000 jobs have been destroyed in the last quarter. In the industrial sector, 7,800 jobs have been lost. The only sector with more people employed is agriculture, with 2,800 more people employed compared to June 2011.

Looking at unemployment figures in each sector at the end of September and compared to the second quarter, unemployment increased by 2,500 in agriculture, by 7,900 in construction, and by 10,000 in the services sector. In addition, there were 2,400 more people looking for their first job but also unable to find one.

Lleida has Spain’s lowest unemployment rate, set at 13.02%

Looking at the Catalan territories, in the Province of Lleida, in western Catalonia, the number of people with a job was 185,200 and those unemployed was 27,700. Lleida has Spain’s lowest unemployment rate, fixed at 13.02%.

In the Province of Barcelona, there were 2,231,300 people with a job at the end of September, and 542,800 people registered as unemployed. Therefore, the unemployment rate was 19.57%.

In the Province of Girona, in Catalonia’s North-East, there were 320,700 people with a job, and 87,400 looking for work. The unemployment rate was 21.42%, the highest in Catalonia.

Finally, in the Province of Tarragona, in southern Catalonia, there were 339,400 people with a job and 84,100 without. Tarragona’s unemployment rate was 19.85%.