For the first time since November 2008, the number of unemployed in Spain has fallen below 3 million. It now stands at 2,922,991, after falling by 99,512 people in May, according to data published on Thursday by the Ministry of Labour.

Second consecutive time that the Labour Force Survey (EPA) comes with positive data for the labour market despite the pandemic. The statistics the National Institute of Statistics (INE) has made public this Thursday show that during the second quarter the number of unemployed fell by 21,200 people in Catalonia, to 478,500, and the unemployment rate eased to 12.28%. In fact, it was the second region in Spain with the most important quarterly drop, only behind Murcia (-22,200 unemployed). The comparison with the same period of 2020, however, reveals that pre-pandemic levels have not been fully recovered. Catalonia still has 5,600 unemployed more than in the second quarter of last year, when we were in complete lockdown in order to contain the spread of covid-19. It should also be borne in mind that many people who were then still on furlough have now been laid off.