Unemployment numbers in Spain declined sharply in March to the lowest level for the month since 2008, data from the labour ministry has. The number of registered unemployed decreased 48,755, or 1.67 percent from the previous month. This monthly decline was the largest in the last two decades.
Registered unemployment totalled 2.86 million in March, the lowest figure for the month since 2008. Compared to the same period last year, the number of people out of work plunged 246,503. By economic sectors, registered unemployment decreased in services, construction, industry and agriculture. Unemployment in services posted the biggest fall of 42,789. The decline in construction was 3,898. In industry, unemployment fell 3,419 and that in the farm sector slid by 2,648. Unemployment among young people below 25 years came in at 215,099, the lowest in the month of March in the entire historical series.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said: “We have the best employment data in the last two decades. We reached the all-time high for average affiliates to social security and the unemployment figures are the best in the last 15 years. All this despite the situation of international and European uncertainty.”