Unemployment in Spain reaches all-time low

Unemployment in Spain fell by 4.2 percent in May to 2,007,393 which is the lowest rate of unemployment ever registered in this country in May. Unemployment fell in the services, industrial and building industries although it rose in agriculture and also among young people who have never been employed.

According to the figures, both sexes have benefitted from the fall in unemployment although men much more so than women - male unemployment fell by 6 percent, compared to a 2.9 percent reduction among unemployed women. In figures this means that 782,160 men are unemployed in Spain compared to 1,225,233 women.

Unemployment fell in all Spanish regions, but especially in Madrid, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.

The number of people registered with the Spanish Seguridad Social and paying their national insurance payments rose in May to 212,172. This all-time high was due largely to the inscription in the Seguridad Social of 90,000 newly legalised immigrant workers whose employers are now obliged to pay their statutory national insurance contributions.

The Spanish government expects the state's national insurance revenue to rise by anything from 1,000 to 1,500 million euros as a direct result of the process of legalisation of illegal immigrant workers in Spain.

Related:
Unemployment in Spain (2004)
Legalisation of immigrants in Spain
End of amnesty period for immigrants in Spain