Spain unemployment rate to dip below 17% for first time in years, data forecasts

By the end of 2017, Spain will have provided jobs for 500,000 more people.

Having seen its rate of unemployment soar to a record 27% in 2013, Spain is now hopeful of ending 2017 with the jobless rate below 17% for the first time in years.

Although the myth still persists that Spain’s economy is in the doldrums, official government and European figures have shown that over the past 18 months it has been one of the continent’s best economic performers…

And while 17% unemployment is still high in real terms, relatively speaking it will set Spain on course for another 12 months of excellent economic growth. In 2016 the jobless rate got down to 18.6%, and with a further 2% contraction projected for this year, it means new jobs for more than half a million people.

That was the message spouted last week by Spain’s Economic Minister Luis de Guindos, who – while acknowledging that the national unemployment rate is “inadequate” – was bullish on the prospects for the longer term.

Economic growth in 2016 topped 3.2% GDP, with similarly strong growth expected this year and +2.5% growth for the next 2-4 years. Queues at the job centres across the land are shortening, and with thousands of young and educated Spaniards now returned from Germany, the UK and elsewhere, many economists see this as an opportunity rather than a burden.

Youth unemployment remains among the highest in Europe at above 25%, but as the recovery of other industries has showed – not least the growing number of mortgages being issued to Spaniards over the past 12 months – Spanish youth are increasingly confident in their country’s ability to provide a bright future for them.