Social Security affiliation continued to grow in February in both Catalonia and Spain, although, in parallel, unemployment rose again for the third consecutive month. However, the number of unemployed last month was lower than the figures recorded a year ago, according to employment data published this Tuesday by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. The same pattern was repeated in Spain, with the total number of unemployed workers increasing, but with figures lower than those of February 2015. Specifically, at the end of February in Catalonia there were 327,253 workers seeking employment, 2,039 more than a year ago. in JanuaryUnemployment in Catalonia rose by 0.63%, according to data published Tuesday by the Ministry of Labor. This marks the third consecutive month of rising unemployment in the Catalan labor market, which reached its lowest level since 2008 (when the financial crisis and housing bubble burst) in June, with just over 315,000 unemployed. Despite these three months of increases, the unemployment figures remained 2.11% below the levels of February of last year, when there were 7,088 more unemployed than last month. Nationwide, unemployment also increased, rising by 3,584 people (0.15%) compared to January, reaching 2,442,646 unemployed. As in the case of Catalonia, despite the increase, unemployment remained below the levels of a year earlier, and in the last 12 months it fell by 150,803 people, a 5.84% decrease. By autonomous community, only Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha experienced a greater increase in unemployment in absolute numbers than Catalonia. By region, the bulk of job losses were concentrated in Barcelona, ​​the most populated, where unemployment increased by just over 2,000 people, while in Lleida and Tarragona the increases were 130 and 17 more unemployed, respectively. Girona, on the other hand, ended February with an average of 126 fewer unemployed than the previous month.

After a slight increase in October, when unemployment in Catalonia rose by 2,423 people, the number of people registered on the public employment service lists returned to a downward trend in November. In the eleventh month of the year, the number of workers registered on the unemployment rolls in Catalonia fell by 3,119, a 0.96% decrease compared to the previous month. This figure means that, over the last year, the number of unemployed workers in Catalonia has decreased by 11,156 people, a 3.35% drop compared to twelve months ago, according to data published this Tuesday by the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy. With these figures, Catalonia ended last November with 321,376 people registered on the unemployment rolls.