The fall in unemployment, -2.4%, is the largest ever for the month of August, marking the sixth month of falling unemployment in Spain. In the last 6 months, unemployment in Spain has fallen by 675,000 people and, at the end of August, stands at 3,333,915 people.
Nevertheless, Social Security lost an average of 118,004 contributors in August compared to July, bringing the total number of employed people to 19,473,724 contributors, according to data from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. The Ministry has stressed that between 2009 and 2019 the average loss of affiliates in August is 147,000 people, higher than the decline recorded in August this year. With these figures, “the number of people employed in February 2020, the month prior to the start of the health crisis,” is practically the same as it was in February 2020, according to the department.
Unemployment fell in August in all sectors except construction, where it rose by 1,139 people (+0.4%). The biggest fall in unemployment was in the services sector, with 46,224 fewer unemployed (-1.9%), followed by the group without previous employment (-22,873 unemployed); agriculture (-13,499 unemployed), and industry, with 1,126 less people unemployed and is now at pre-pandemic levels.
In August, 1,407,563 contracts were registered, 25.8% more than in the same month of 2020. Of that total, 118,985 were permanent contracts, 8.4% of the total number and 23.6% more than in August 2020.
