That of the Spanish economy, superior to the labor market to a new record. Spain exceeds for the first time the milestone of the 22 million workers, as can be seen from the one corresponding to the second quarter, which has been disseminated this Thursday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). This period of the year is usually the most positive for employment, given the strength of tourism, which between April and June is activated to attend the vacation season, while the activity of the rest of the sectors has not yet collapsed by the summer. This context also reduces the unemployment rate, which drops up to 10.29%, the lowest figure since 2008, 17 years ago, when Spain began to suffer the first blows of the great recession.
The labor market reaches this quarter 22.27 million employed, thanks to the creation of 503,300 jobs in the last quarter. It is a rhythm of employment generation much higher than the same period of last year, when the number of employed rose at 434,700 people, and is halfway to the 2023 acceleration, with 624,200 more employees. A look at the average of the last decade (excluding 2020, the anomalous year of the pandemic) shows that the occupation grows in the second quarter, an average of 423,100 occupied and 2.19%, compared to half a million new positions of this quarter, which involve an increase of 2.31%.
This new flying goal, that of the 22 million, is reached two years after exceeding the previous one, the 21 million employed. That milestone exceeded in the second quarter of 2023. Almost another two years before, in the third quarter of 2021 and in full recovery of the pandemic, the number of employed exceeded 20 million. You have to travel further back to find the time when the 19 million were crossed for the first time, in the second quarter of 2018.
At the same time that the employed population increases, the unemployment rate falls, the proportion of unemployed with respect to the total active population. It is 10.29%, which represents a fall of -1.07 points compared to the past quarter and -0.98 compared to last year. They are forceful contractions, higher than those registered in the same period last year. Thus, the unemployment rate recorded in this second quarter is the lowest proportion since 2008 and also the lower one in a second quarter since 2007, 18 long years ago.
To lower the unemployment rate it is usually necessary that the number of unemployed fall, a circumstance that usually occurs in the second quarter and that is repeated in 2025. There are 2,553,100 unemployed, 236,100 less than in the last quarter, a more intense contraction than last year, when 222,600 unemployed were recorded. In 2023 the number of unemployed fell into 378,100 people. The average of the last decade, again excluding the year of the pandemic, throws an average unemployment of 246,700 people, somewhat higher than the one notified this year.
[Noticia en elaboración. Habrá ampliación].
