Unemployment rises in Catalonia in summer despite record employment
Spain also reached a record high number of people in the labor market
BarcelonaJuly, August, and September, the three busiest months of the tourist season in our country, closed with a new record for employment in Catalonia, but also with more people unemployed. This is indicated by data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) published this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
The unemployment rate rose slightly in Catalonia during the third quarter to 8.18%. (the previous figure was 8.11%) and 3,800 more unemployed people were added, bringing the total number to 352,100. This is the first increase in unemployment in a summer since 2022, after two years in which these months eased the employment service lists. In any case, there are 21,800 fewer unemployed now than a year ago, a reduction of 5.83%.
In terms of employment, 5,900 new workers were added and Catalonia reached a new historical record of employed people, approaching four million (3,950,600). However, this 0.15% increase was small compared to the increase of 94,600 employed people recorded in the second quarter, when summer hiring is anticipated. In fact, it is the weakest summer since 2012 in terms of employment growth.
This slowdown is explained precisely by the job losses experienced in the services sector, coinciding with record tourism in Catalonia. This industry registered 21,100 fewer workers than in the previous quarter (-0.71%). In contrast, all other economic activities did close this period with more employees than in the second quarter. Industry added 13,200 new employees (+1.98%); construction, 9,200 (+3.78%), and agriculture, 4,500 (+8.67%).
In Spain as a whole, during the third quarter, nearly 22.4 million people were employed (22,387,100), also a new record high. Between July and September, employment increased by 118,400 people compared to the previous quarter, a growth of 0.53%. In the last 12 months, this increase has already reached 562,500 workers who have entered the labor market, a 2.59% increase.
More unemployed in the country as a whole
However, in this context of strong employment, the unemployment rate rose to 10.45%, higher than the previous quarter's 10.29%. According to the Spanish National Employment Agency (EPA), the state added 60,100 unemployed people during the summer months, bringing the total number of unemployed to 2,613,200.
In fact, the employment rate for the population aged 16 to 65 also reached a new record, reaching 68.2%, almost three-tenths of a percentage point higher than in the second quarter. According to the Ministry of Economy, these figures "corroborate the dynamism of the labor market, in which the working population grew to over 25 million people for the first time, with an increase of 178,500 people in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter."
