CdM |The number of jobless people registered in the public employment services’ offices fell by 83,738 in May compared to the previous month (-2.5%). This was less than the decline in the months of May in the period 2013-2017, but more than it dropped by between 2009 and 2012, the caretaker Ministry for Labour and Social Security said on Monday.
The total number of unemployed stood at 3.252.130 at end-May, the lowest level since December 2008, according to the caretaker Ministry. From the highs of February 2018, the number of jobless people has fallen by nearly 1.8 million people.
May and June are usually the best months for the Spanish labour market. The hotel sector begins to prepare itself for the tourism industry’s high season, the summer, and begins to hire workers, in addition to those taken on at Easter.
The drop registered in the fifth month of the year, which makes it 8 consecutive months of declines, is lower than that in 2017 (-111.908 unemployed) and the falls recorded in 2016 (-119.768), 2015 (-117.985), 2014 (-111.916) and 2013 (-98.265).But it exceeds the declines registered between 2009 and 2012. In total, the drop in May of this year has been the seventh biggest in the series.
In seasonally adjusted terms, unemployment fell by 3.236 people in May and in the last 12 months by 208.998 (-6%).
Meanwhile, the Social Security gained an average of 237.207 affiliates (+1.3%) in May, its best figure for this month in the whole of the historic series. The total number of people in work stood at 18.915.668, the caretaker Labour Ministry said.
In the last year, the number of people contributing to the Social Security has risen by 570.354, at a rate of 3.1%, driven mainly by the General System, which has added 537.998 workers from May 2017 (+3.6%). Administrative Activities and Auxiliary Services gained 22.047 contributors (1.74%), while the Sale and Repair of Vehicles and Motorbikes added 15.435 (0.65%); the Manufacturing Industry, 10.055 (0.56%); Construction, 17.543 (2.18%) and Transport and Storage, 9.838 (1.43%).