Unemployment falls below 14% for first time in 10 years, according to Q3 2019 Labour Force Survey

With this reduction, the unemployment rate has fallen below 14% (13.92%) for the first time in over a decade.

This fall in unemployment has been recorded against the backdrop of an ongoing increase in the working population, which grew by 234,700 in the last year. As a result, the working population now stands at almost 23.1 million, its highest level since late 2013.

The number of households where all members of a working age are unemployed fell by 73,700 in the last year, while those where all members of a working age are in work rose by 156,400.

The number of people in work is over 19.8 million

The number of people in work during the third quarter of this year stood at 19,874,300, the highest figure in almost 11 years. Employment rose by 346,300 in the last 12 months, which represents a year-on-year increase of 1.8%, 0.6% lower than in the previous quarter.

This confirms the fact that jobs continue to be created, and this job creation is mainly concentrated in the private sector, with 285,200 more people in work, and in permanent employment, with 387,900 more jobs. The number of people in work rose in all sectors except agriculture. The service sector posted 248,600 more people in work, followed by industry with 90,100 and construction with 29,700.

By autonomous region, employment rose in Madrid by 104,500 over the last year, followed by Catalonia with 68,500 and Andalusia with 68,100. In contrast, the largest decreases in the number of people in work were in the Canary Islands (down 18,100) and the Principality of Asturias (down 8,300).

In year-on-year terms, the number of women in work rose faster than the number of men, with an increase of 2.1%. This has maintained the threshold of nine million women in work.

The number of salaried workers on permanent employment contracts increased

The number of salaried workers on permanent employment contracts rose in the third quarter of 2019 to 12,313,600, the highest figure on record. It should be noted that the year-on-year permanent employment growth rate stands above 3%, higher than the total employment growth figure.

Full-time employment rose by 270,900 in the last 12 months, accounting for 78.2% of the total employment increase, and part-time employment rose by 75,400 or 21.8% of the total.

Quarterly trend

The number of unemployed fell by 16,200 in the third quarter of 2019. This is a 0.5% increase on the previous quarter, and a 1.72% seasonally-adjusted increase. In this same period, it is worth noting the fall in unemployment among the over-55s (down 19,500), among those aged 25-54 (down 15,200) and among those who have been unemployed for more than a year (down 48,900).

The number of people in work rose by 69,400 in the third quarter of the year, 0.35%. In seasonally-adjusted terms, this is an increase of 0.09% on the previous quarter. This employment increase is concentrated in young people aged 20-24 and the over-50s. The part-time employment rate fell to 14% thanks to a 231,700 increase in the number of people in full-time work and a 162,300 decrease in part-time employment.

Non official translation