Editor’s note: This article was first published in March 2012, and all its figures are Spain’s registered unemployment statistics for February 2012, with benefit spending for January 2012. They describe that period only.
It’s frightening. Every media outlet has reported that unemployment in Spain has far exceeded every forecast and the historical levels of recent years. According to the Public Employment Service (SEPE), in February the number of unemployed people reached 4,712,098.
Even so, the government expects the figure to rise by close to 600,000 people. Back in 2008, when this trend began, it was barely above two million unemployed. The Balearic Islands and Extremadura are the two regions where the number of people out of work fell, while Andalusia and Madrid are the regions where unemployment rose most last February.
To reach the current figure, we have to add up the unemployed by sector:
- 163,462 from agriculture
- 534,844 from industry
- 807,931 from construction
- 2,804,340 from services
- 401,521 people who have never had a job before.
Unemployment by age and sex
Women outnumber men on the list of jobseekers, by 5,570 people.
| Total | Under 25 | 25 and over | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men | 2,353,264 | 270,469 | 2,082,795 |
| Women | 2,358,834 | 231,373 | 2,127,461 |
Contracts
The lucky ones who signed an employment contract in the first two months of 2012 add up to 1,997,831 people, a drop of more than 6% compared with the previous year.
In February, 74,494 people found a permanent job, 7.77% of all contracts signed. Of these contracts, 46,038 are full-time and 28,456 part-time.
The remaining contracts were 4,883 training contracts and 879,853 other types of temporary contract. Together, the three groups make up the 959,230 contracts signed in February.
Benefits
Compared with the previous month, unemployment benefits rose by 1.4%, and the time taken to approve them reached two days. These figures meant spending of 2,715 million euros in January, an average of 925.10 euros per person.
Source: SEPE
See also: Fake job offers: how to spot the scam
Featured image: Jesus Solana from Madrid, Spain, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
