11 May, 2015

By VIVA Team

Although much of Spain’s new jobs are seasonal, the trend is definitely a positive one.

‘Tis the season to be hiring in Spain: in April, the country added 118,923 jobs, eating into that massive unemployment figure with aplomb, and confounding industry analysts by posting the fastest fall in jobless figures since records began…

Tallied up over the past 12 months, Spain has added 351,285 jobs, once again driving the fastest fall in unemployment yet seen in post-Franco Spain.

To give April’s performance some perspective, over the past seven years the average fall in unemployment works out at 25,000 new jobs a month, which starkly highlights just how well the economy and job market has turned around in recent months, and continues to strengthen.

Although overall unemployment remains high, at more than four million and 20% of the population, the country’s excellent recovery is well and truly established, and is proof positive that the tough labour reforms enacted by the government in 2012 have had the desired effect.

“The labour market reform aimed to increase purchasing power while gaining competitiveness,” said Álvaro Nadal, Economic Adviser to the governing People’s Party. “Do we need to do more? It’s working.”

Skeptics have argued that many of the newly created positions are temporary roles as Spain gears up for its busy summer season. But it was ever thus: employment is extremely seasonal in the country, but April’s figures are the best ever seen, which points to the fact that tourism is set to play an even more important role in Spain’s economy in 2015 than it has done previously.

With an election coming later this year, however, it is imperative for the current government to try to build on this momentum after the summer. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has pledged to create more than 600,000 new jobs this year, and is looking to bolster the country’s economic attractiveness, making its automotive and agricultural industries more robust than in previous years.

The signs so far are encouraging, not least in the real estate and property sectors, where employment once again is on the up thanks to a recovering property market that has enjoyed the strong return in recent months of British buyers to the sector.