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Spain's unemployment falls by 12.43 pct in 2015

Xinhua, January 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Spain's unemployment fell by 12.43 percent in 2015, according to data of the Inquest into the Active Population (EPA) released on Thursday by Spain's Statistical Office (INE).

The fall meant that 678,200 fewer people were out of work in the country when compared with a year earlier. Spain's unemployment rate stood at 20.9 percent in 2015 and 4,779,500 people were out of work.

The fall in unemployment is the biggest in absolute terms since 2002.

Meanwhile, the number of people with a job increased by 525,100 when compared with a year earlier leaving the total number of employed people at 18.094 million, its highest level since the last quarter of 2011 when there were 18.153 million employed people.

The data also confirmed a fall of the labor force. In 2015, it fell by 153,100 people to 22.8 million people when compared with 2014, the lowest figure since the first quarter of 2008.

Spain's acting Minister of Economy Luis de Guindos said that there is still a lot to do, but highlighted that the fall in unemployment had surpassed the government expectations. The government expected an unemployment rate of 21.9 percent compared to the 20.9 percent published on Thursday.

However, the government expected to create more jobs. They expected 18.171 million people employed while data revealed there were 18.094 million people with a job. Endit