Spain: Unemployment drops to over-four-year low in Q4

The unemployment rate in Q4 edged down from Q3’s 21.2% to 20.9%. The result represented the lowest rate since Q2 2011. The print was better than the 21.2% rate that FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists had expected. In absolute terms, the number of unemployed totaled 4.78 million people in Q4, which was slightly below the 4.85 million recorded in the previous period.

The largest increase in employment was recorded in the agriculture sector, which added 70,200 jobs. The number of jobs in the services sector (+54,900) and construction (+24,100) also improved, whereas industry lost 55,500 jobs. The country’s workforce decreased by 25,800 people in Q4 to 22.9 million. The print followed Q3, when the workforce dropped by 116,000 people.

Despite the improvement, unemployment remains among the highest in the Eurozone and was a key issue in last year’s election campaign, which resulted in a fragmented parliament for the first time in over 30 years.

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast participants expect unemployment to average 20.4% in 2016, which is down 0.1 percentage points over last month’s projection. For 2017, the panel foresees an unemployment rate of 18.9%.