Summer hiring sees registered unemployed fall 29,841 in July

​Recorded unemployment has fallen by 278,954 over the last 12 months, and the year-on-year rate now stands at -5.94%. This rate has fallen by more than 18 points since the high of 12.5% recorded in May 2012. The accumulated reduction in recorded unemployment in the first seven months of the year - a total of 281,478 people - is the highest since 1998.

Unemployment increased by 32,357 in seasonally-adjusted terms, which corresponds with the historic trend, whereby since the year 2000, seasonally-adjusted unemployment has increased each July, except in 2004

Recorded unemployment among the under-25s has fallen by 24,075 over the last 12 months, which is a year-on-year decrease of 5.8%.

Recorded unemployment fell in 14 autonomous regions, led by Galicia (-12,031), Castile Leon (-4,220) and Andalusia (-3,487). It rose in Aragon (3,317), Murcia (1,689) and Madrid (550).
By economic sector, recorded unemployment showed the following changes when compared with June: the agricultural sector rose by 424 (0.19%), the industrial sector fell by 9,798 (-2.11%), the construction sector fell by 14,714 (-2.56%) and the service sector fell by 12,518 (-0.45%). Finally, the number of first-time job-seekers rose by 6,765 (1.79%).

The number of new employment contracts recorded in July amounted to 1,645,236. This represents an increase of 137,895 (9.15%) on the same month of 2013. In turn, the accumulated number of employment contracts in the first seven months of 2014 amounted to 9,485,971, representing 1,243,684 more employment contracts (15.09%) than in the same period last year.

A total of 114,071 permanent employment contracts were recorded in July 2014. This represents an increase of 17,733 (18.41%) on the same month last year. An accumulated total of 772,536 permanent employment contracts were recorded to July 2014. This represents an increase of 104,383 (15.62%) on the same month of 2013. For the fifth consecutive month, permanent contracts rose by around 20%, reflecting the dynamic nature of the job market which corresponds to the figures contained in the Active Population Survey and in the rise in National Insurance contributors.

The number of training and apprenticeship contracts continues to post highly positive results. A total of 15,214 such contracts were signed in July, which is 53.5% higher than in July 2013. In addition, 7,175 work experience contracts were signed this month, representing an increase of 38.8% on the same month of 2013.

There were a total of 2,469,428 unemployment benefit recipients in June 2014, 0.74% less than the previous month. The amount of benefits paid out by the system amounted to 1.95 billion euros, 2.8% less than the previous month.