ARCHIVED - Unemployment in Spain down by 39,000 in April but 638,000 still on furlough
The jobless figure is still 2 per cent higher than a year ago at 3.9 million
The latest monthly unemployment figures for April, which were published by Spain’s Ministry of Employment on Wednesday morning, show that the number of people registered as being out of work fell during the month by 39,012, representing a decrease of just under 1 per cent.
This is no doubt due in part to the gradual re-activation of many of the bars and restaurants as the pandemic situation stabilizes and the opening of more establishments over the Easter holidays, but at the same time the total of 3,910,628 is still 2.07 per cent higher than at the end of April 2020, during the first lockdown last spring, and some 600,000 higher than in the same month the year before, prior to the pandemic.
However, the regional breakdown of the figures shows a wide range of different results. During April there were slight increases reported in unemployment in three of the country’s 17 regions, as opposed to decreases of up to 5.5 per cent in Galicia, while over the last 12 months the sharpest rises have been recorded in the islands (13.1 per cent in the Balearics and 10 per cent in the Canaries). Again, the other extreme is to be found in Galicia, with a fall in the jobless total of almost 11 per cent.
It should also be borne in mind that across the country a further 638,000 people are still on the ERTE furlough schemes, not currently working but not registered as unemployed.