Job’s a good ‘un: June sees Spain’s unemployment rate fall furthest for ten years

Job numbers in Spain have swelled hugely in June, and many of the new jobs will be here to stay.

The summer always brings a boost for Spain’s job figures. After all, with millions of people descending upon the country between the months of June to September, there is quite simply more work to be done…

But this year’s annual boost in employment marks something greater than the traditional summer upturn. Data from the country’s Labour Ministry shows that June saw the unemployment rate drop by its largest margin for 10 years – which suggests that the economic recovery that has been so tentative since the last recession has really taken hold.

The image of Spain as a job-scarce wasteland still persists in some corners of Europe. And while it is true that youth unemployment remains stubbornly high, general unemployment has been falling consistently for the past couple of years.

The figures for June show that there were 124,349 fewer jobless claims that month, leaving some 3.76 million Spaniards officially registered as unemployed, according to official data. By other metrics, Spain saw 98,432 new registrations for social security in June, which helped to push the number of Spaniards in employment to 17,760,271 – which is the highest number for more than seven years.

A bumper summer season is to thank for the bulk of those new jobs, many of which will be seasonal, but a number of other, non-tourism related sectors have also posted encouraging growth. Data from the El País newspaper shows that 38,337 new workers entered the hospitality trade in June (and so are likely to be classed as ‘seasonal’ workers), with retail adding 27,936 new jobs, some 18,587 new positions in administrative activities, manufacturing growing by 14,031 and – interestingly – Spain’s construction sector employing an extra 11,468 people in June.

Whichever way you look at it, Spain’s most dynamic industries are all adding thousands of jobs each month, which can only be great news for the country’s economy and future health.