December sees record fall in jobseekers

The number of people registered as out of work in Spain fell by 107,000 in December, according to figures that will be confirmed by Labor Minister Fátima Báñez on Friday, but that were released the day before by news agency Servimedia. The fall is the sharpest for the month of December since the ministry’s current statistical series began in 1997.

Until now, the strongest figure for unemployment in the last 15 years for December was 2012, when the number of jobseekers fell by 59,094. The fall follows another record drop in November, and means that for the year the number of jobless in Spain will have fallen by 146,293 people from January to December. As such, the number of registered unemployed, according to the Employment Ministry, now stands at 4,701,338, compared with 4,848,723 at the beginning of 2013.

If confirmed, last year will be the first since the economic crisis hit in 2008 that the number of people registered as unemployed with the Spanish system has fallen.

While Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy already indicated that 2013 would see a fall in unemployment, the official data is needed to confirm whether the improvement in fact means jobs have been created.