Double record fall in unemployment: unemployment falls by 74,381 people, the biggest drop in the series for a month of November, and the cumulative period of declines is extended to nine months

November ended with a fall of 74,381 (-2.28%) in the number of people registered in the offices of the Public State Employment Service (SEPE).

The total number of registered unemployed therefore stands at 3,182,687, the lowest figure for a month of November since 2008. It is also down from pre-pandemic levels: 63,360 fewer people were registered as unemployed in November than in February 2020.

In seasonally adjusted terms, registered unemployment fell by 98,061 people.

November closes the longest cycle of falling unemployment in the historical series with nine consecutive months.

Compared to February, there are 826,102 fewer registered persons.

Unemployment by economic sector

Registered unemployment is down in all economic sectors compared to October. In Services it fell by 48,528 persons (-2.11%), in Industry by 7,689 persons (-2.91%), in Agriculture there were 6,072 (-3.89%) fewer registered persons and in Construction it fell by 4,336 persons (-1.70%).

Unemployment in November also fell in the group Without Previous Employment by 7,756 persons (-2.77%).

In all sectors of activity, and especially in the services sector, unemployment is already lower than at the beginning of the pandemic.

Unemployment by sex and age

Unemployment has fallen more among women than among men. There are 40,322 (-2.09%) fewer women registered in the public employment services, with the total falling to 1,888,257.

Female unemployment has fallen by 416,522 women since February, and there are now fewer unemployed women than before the pandemic.

Male unemployment stood at 1,294,430, with a decrease of 34,059 (-2.56%) men.

Unemployment among young people under 25 fell in November by 11,554 persons (-4.50%) compared with the previous month. The number of unemployed people under 25 has fallen by 120,961 since March, with 16,006 fewer young people unemployed than at the start of the pandemic.

Unemployment also fell among those aged 25 and over, by 62,827 people (-2.09%).

Unemployment by autonomous community

Registered unemployment fell in 15 Autonomous Communities. The biggest falls were experienced in the region of Valencia (30,633 fewer registered unemployed), in the region of Madrid (-11,477 persons) and in Andalusia (-9,162 persons).

Levels rose in the Balearic Islands (5,771) and in the Principality of Asturias (647).

In year-on-year terms, registered unemployment fell in all the Autonomous Communities.

Contracts in November

A total of 2,021,546 contracts were signed in November - the highest number for a November in the historical series.

282,981 of them were permanent, and this is the highest figure for any month in the entire historical series. These contracts represent 14% of all contracts signed in November.

In terms of working hours, 175,843 contracts were full-time and 107,138 were part-time.

The rest of the contracts (to complete the total of 2,021,546 in November) were 12,111 training contracts and 1,726,454 other types of temporary contracts. Within the latter group, Temporary contracts due to Circumstances of Production (full-time) stand out with 27.14%, followed by Fixed-term contracts (full-time) with 24.28% of the total number of contracts. Part-time temporary contracts account for 29.93% of the total signed.

Benefits for the month of October

There were 1,821,886 existing beneficiaries at the end of the month.

Spending on Temporary Redundancy benefits in October stood at 189 million euros, the lowest figure since this employment protection mechanism was launched.

Total benefit expenditure in October 2021 amounted to 1,864.5 million euros, 29.7% less than in the same month of the previous year.

The average monthly expenditure per beneficiary, not including the agricultural subsidy in Andalusia and Extremadura, in the month of October 2021 was 1,050.6 euros.

Non official translation