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UNEMPLOYMENT

Spain sees fifth month of falling jobless figures

Spain's unemployment rate fell for the fifth month in a row in June, but most of the new jobs created are only temporary, figures released on Friday by Spain's Employment Ministry show.

Published: 2 August 2013 10:51 CEST
Spain sees fifth month of falling jobless figures
Only 6.39 percent of the job contracts signed in Spain in June were for ongoing positions. Photo: Dominique Faget

For the first time since 2007, Spain's jobless rate has fallen for five consecutive months, Spain's Employment Ministry have touted.

A total of 64,866 people — or left the unemployment queues in June, the ministry's figures show.

This means Spain has seen a 340,000 strong reduction in unemployment in the last five months.

This put the total number of people out of work at 4,698,814.

But Spanish media sources were careful to put the good news into perspective.

Total unemployment has increased by 2.43 percent since July 2012 with the jobless queues seeing 111,359 new people in the last twelve months, free daily 20minutos reported.

El País newspaper said the lower July jobless figures were a result of the 'summer effect', with temporary tourism jobs giving the numbers a facelift.

The number of new contracts signed in July was 1,507,341, or 18 percent up on June 2013.

But only 6.39 percent of these jobs were ongoing positions.

Spain has two sets of unemployment figures, providing different estimates.

Employment Ministry figures are based on the number of unemployed persons registered in their offices.

Spain's INE, however, conducts a survey (the EPA) of 65,000 Spanish households to obtain its results.

The EPA includes responses from some people who want to work but who are not registered in the employment offices.

The responses also include those who fall into other special working categories which are not recorded by the Ministry.

This explains why EPA unemployment figures are much higher than those of Spain's Employment Ministry.

The latest EPA figures, released on July 25, show Spain's unemployment to be 5,977,500, or down 225,200 in the second quarter of 2013. 

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government is forecasting a jobless rate of 26.7 percent in 2014 and 25 percent in 2015.

Spain, the eurozone's fourth-largest economy, is still struggling to overcome the aftermath of a decade-long property bubble that imploded in 2008, destroying millions of jobs and sending debt levels soaring.

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BUSINESS

Unemployment in France falls slightly despite the lockdown

Unemployment in France has fallen slightly, despite the ongoing ravages of the health crisis and consequent lockdown, latest statistics show.

Published: 27 April 2021 16:46 CEST
Unemployment in France falls slightly despite the lockdown
Photo: Stephane du Sakatin/AFP

The number of unemployed job seekers in mainland France fell by 0.4 percent in the first three months of 2021, according to figures published by the French Ministry of Labour on Tuesday.

There were 3,560,600 unemployed registered at the Pôle Emploi (unemployment office), 12,200 fewer than during the last three months of 2020.

This follows a 2.7 percent fall in the final three months of 2020 – but the rate is still up 6.8 percent compared with the first three months of 2020, before Europe began to feel the economic impact of the Covid pandemic.

Currently all ‘non essential’ shops in France have been closed since April 3rd, while bars, restaurants, cafés, gyms, cinemas, theatres, museums and tourist sites have been closed since October 2020.

Despite the fall the total number of job seekers, the number of people who were in work but with reduced hours was up by 0.8 percent at the start of 2021, to 2,156,300.

That means that in total 5,716,900 people in mainland France were registered with Pôle emploi during this period, an increase of 4.9 percent compared with a year ago.

“Over the course of 2020, in one year, unemployment rose by 8 percent. This is obviously a lot, but we must remember that during the crisis of 2008-2009, unemployment leapt by 25 percent, so we can see that the government assistance is working,” Minister of Labour Élisabeth Borne told BFMTV on Tuesday.

The French government has put together a huge package of economic aid to try and mitigate the effects of the repeated lockdowns, from chômage partiel (furlough) schemes for employees to aid packages for business owners and the self-employed. But many small retailers have been hit hard by the three periods of closure for non-essential shops, while the tourist, leisure and hospitality sectors have also had a devastating year.

The economic downturn linked to the pandemic has disproportionately affected young people in France.  Across all categories of job seekers (unemployed and with reduced hours), the latest figures show a rise of 7.1 percent in a year for those under 25, compared to 4.5 percent for the 25-29 age range, and 4.8 percent for those aged 50 and over.

Men are also more likely to have signed up to Pôle emploi, with a 6.1 percent increase on last year, compared to a 3.8 percent increase among women.

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