Catalonia leads the loss of contracts and the rise in unemployment in August
Across Spain, jobs were also lost and unemployment increased.
BarcelonaThe labor market is showing signs of strain in August, coinciding with the end of the summer campaign. Catalonia was the autonomous community that lost the most jobs last month and where unemployment increased the most, as confirmed this Tuesday by data published by the Ministry of Social Security and Labor.
Specifically, the number of registered workers fell by 63,562 compared to July, a decrease of 1.62%. After more than half a year of record employment figures. Thus, the total number of active workers in Catalonia stands at 3,848,783 people, 77,060 more than a year ago.
Regarding unemployment, in August this indicator added 7,942 unemployed people, an increase of 2.49% compared to the previous month. Thus, there are now 327,365 people registered with employment services in Catalonia who are looking for work, 8,625 fewer than last year. In fact, this is the lowest unemployment figure for a month of August since 2007, before the outbreak of the Great Recession.
By economic sector in Catalonia, the branch where the number of unemployed increased the most in August was services (+7,097), which is attributed to the end of contracts linked to the tourist season. In industry, this increase was 645 people, while in construction it was 424. In contrast, in agriculture, the job losses at the end of the summer were not yet as noticeable, and unemployment fell by 40 people.
Looking at the Catalan regions, Barcelona also led the Spanish increase in unemployment, always in absolute terms. There were 5,970 new job losses, a 2.5% increase that explains the overall performance of the labor market in Catalonia. Unemployment rose throughout the country, as this increase was repeated—to a lesser extent—in Tarragona (+827 people), Girona (+733), and Lleida (+412).
Throughout Spain, the labor market trend was also downward. Months of record-high Social Security affiliation gave way to the destruction of 199,300 contracts, a 0.91% reduction, bringing the country's labor force to 21,666,203 people in August. Meanwhile, registered unemployment increased by 21,905, leaving 2,426,511 unemployed people in Spain.
