Spain: Unemployment rate rises in third quarter of the year
The jobless rate rose to 11.8% in Q3 from 11.6% in the second quarter. In absolute terms, the number of unemployed workers increased by 92,700 people to 2.9 million in Q3.
That said, jobs were added in Q3. The services sector added the most jobs (+138,700), underpinned by a strong tourist season, followed by the industrial (+98,800) and the construction sectors (+19,500), while the agricultural sector shed jobs (-47,800). Overall, a total of 209,100 jobs were added from the prior quarter. For its part, the workforce rose by 301,900 people in Q3 to a total of 24.1 million.
Commenting on the release, Wouter Thierie, economist at ING, stated: “Labour market dynamics seem to have weakened somewhat recently. Job creation has slowed in recent months across almost all sectors. A further deceleration in job creation combined with further growth of the working-age population, partly due to migration, leads us to think that the unemployment rate will rise slightly next year towards 12.2% by mid-2024, before returning to its downward path on the back of a pick-up in economic growth.”