Bankinter | The variation in Spain jobless figures in September (according to the Social Security register) was apparently slightly higher (worse) than forecast: +27.900 vs +21.500 expected vs +22.801 in September 2016. (That said it was slightly better than the 26.087 registered in September 2015).
At first sight the data seems esthetically mediocre. But in terms of the net amount of people signed up with the Social Security up to September, it’s in fact the best figure since 2005. A total of 18.336.161 people (in work) signed up. This means that in the first nine months of 2017, the number of people affiliated to the Social Security (according to employees registered) has increased by 732.848 vs +530.762 up until September 2016 and vs 506.697 up until September 2015.
Looking at the variation on a month-on-month basis (m/m; August) the data is also good: +295.968 vs +150.868 in September 2016 vs +89.248 in September 2015. We need to go back to September 2007 (before the crisis) to find a similar improvement (+260.022). So, although on first sight the variation in the number of jobless seems not to be very encouraging, the total number of people signed up with the Social Security, as well as the month-on-month and year-on-year variations, are in fact positive.