First drop in Spain’s jobless rate for two years

Summer has been good for Spain's job figures, but will the good times last?

Latest official figures from Spain have shown that the country’s unemployment rate has fallen for the first time in two years.

For the second quarter of this year, the jobless figure stood at 26.3 per cent, which is down from 27.2 per cent for the first quarter of the year – a figure that holds the unwanted distinction as the highest ever…

The much-touted seasonal uplift has massaged the figures somewhat, boosting summertime employment and adding an annual 10 per cent to Spain’s annual GDP.

However, the news followed on the back of another positive set of calculations from the Spanish Central Bank, which predicts that the country’s economy will return to growth before 2013 is out. Last quarter, the economy retracted by just 0.1 per cent, which represents something of a triumph for a country that has wallowed in the doldrums for almost five years.

As Spain has swallowed bitter austerity medicine and undergone some painful labour reforms, export trade has grown impressively, with the country now running a trade surplus – a positive sign that the economy is at least heading in the right direction. Meanwhile, Bankia, one of the country’s state-backed banks, has returned to profit, making €200m in the first half of the year after suffering huge losses in 2012.

But of course, for the average Spaniard, employment remains the biggest concern and, despite the uplift, there are still almost six million men and women out of work in a country of 44 million – the second-highest figure in the EU after Greece. Among the 15-24 age group, that figure rises to 56 per cent.

Despite the seasonal uplift, there are concerns that the autumn months could blow in yet more misery. For now though, the shining summer season has brought a little bit of hope and joy to a nation still struggling with the recession.