ARCHIVED - Murcia reports lowest unemployment rate for 13 years
The jobless total in Murcia is reported to have fallen by 18 per cent in just three months
The Active Population Survey for the second quarter of 2021, which was published on Thursday morning by the Spanish government’s central statistics unit, reports that the number of people out of work fell by 110,100 during April, May and June, representing a decrease of 3 per cent in comparison with the first quarter of the year, and within the regional breakdown of the figures the Region of Murcia performed especially strongly.
It is reported that the jobless total fell in Murcia by 22,200, more than in any other of the country’s 17 regions, and at the same time the 12-monthly comparison also places Murcia at the top of the list with a decrease of 11,100. The year-on-year figures are of course distorted by the coronavirus lockdown which was in place for much of the second quarter in 2020, but the improvement is impressive in light of the fact that the nationwide unemployment figure rose by 175,900 over the same period.
While the pandemic makes valid comparisons difficult, all the more so with many people still on ERTE temporary furlough schemes and uncertain whether they will return to work, it is worth pointing out that at 98,200 the number of people reported to be out of work in Murcia is lower than at any time since the second quarter of 2019, well before coronavirus reached Europe. The latest figure represents a decrease of 20,600, or 18.4 per cent, in just three months.
At the same time, the unemployment rate reported in Murcia is 13.15 per cent, the lowest since the second quarter of 2008. At one point the figure rose to 29.9 per cent in 2011, during the economic crisis which affected the whole of Spain a decade ago.
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