Recorded unemployment falls by 253,627 in 2014, the largest year-on-year decrease since 1998

The number of unemployed registered with the Public Employment Services in Spain fell by 253,627 in 2014 (-5.39%), the largest ever year-on-year decrease recorded in December since 1998 and putting the total recorded unemployment figure at 4,447,711.

This is the second decrease in recorded unemployment at the end of the year since 2006 (following the decrease of 147,000 posted in 2013), meaning that the overall total decrease for the last two years now exceeds 400,000.  In the previous five years, recorded unemployment had increased by an average of 314,000 on the previous year.

At the end of December, the number of unemployed fell by 64,405 on the previous month. This represents the second-largest decrease in December since current records began. In seasonally-adjusted terms, recorded unemployment fell by 5,404 - the fifth consecutive decrease.

By sector, unemployment among workers from the service sector fell by 65,275 (down 2.23%) and from the agriculture sector by 2,639 (down 1.23%). Meanwhile, unemployment among workers from the construction sector increased by 12,689 (up 2.39%) and from the industrial sector by 2,435 (up 0.54%). Finally, the number of first-time job-seekers fell by 11,615 (-2.99%).

Recorded unemployment fell in 12 autonomous regions, led by Andalusia (-24,901), the Region of Madrid (-13,528) and the Region of Valencia (-10,939). In contrast, unemployment rose in five regions, led by Galicia (3,286) and Castile-Leon (1,274).

Permanent employment up by 20%

The number of new employment contracts recorded in December amounted to 1,384,062. This represents an increase of 7.22% on the same month of 2013. The accumulated number of employment contracts in 2014 as a whole amounted to 16,727,089. This represents 1,934,475 more employment contracts (13.1%) than in the previous year.

A total of 99,853 permanent employment contracts were recorded in December 2014. This is an increase of 19% on the same month last year. An accumulated total of 1,350,331 permanent employment contracts were recorded in 2014 as a whole, which is an increase of 19.2% compared with 2013.

The number of full-time permanent employment contracts recorded in December rose by 19% on the same month in 2013. For the last 12 months in total, this increase rises to 21.81% when compared with 2013 as a whole.

Training and apprenticeship contracts have maintained their upward trend in December with 12,077 such contracts reported, an increase of 10% on the same month last year. This is a 32% increase in the accumulated total for the last 12 months.

Along the same lines, 4,770 work experience contracts were signed this month, which is an increase of 44.9% on the same month in 2013. Over the last 12 months, 30.2% more contracts of this nature were signed than in the previous period.

There were a total of 2,462,329 unemployment benefit recipients in November 2014, with the amount of benefits paid out by the system amounting to 1.93 billion euros.

Boost to job creation

The State Secretary for Employment, Engracia Hidalgo, stressed that the data published on Monday demonstrate the positive effects of the reforms undertaken by the Spanish Government, especially the labour reform, and are in line with recent trends in the Spanish economy.

"They are positive figures that encourage us to keep working", said Engracia Hidalgo, adding that she hopes 2015 will be an important year for boosting job creation.

"Today we have more than 253,000 reasons to be more optimistic, but we still have many more reasons to keep working on the recovery and towards stable, quality employment in our country", she said.