Spain Unemployment Rises In October

(RTTNews) - Joblessness in Spain increased in October but logged the smallest gain for the month since 2006 except for the pandemic years of 2021 and 2022, data from the labor ministry showed on Tuesday.

The number of unemployed rose by 26,769 persons, which was a below average increase for the month of October. Economists were looking for an increase of 26,500 persons.

In September, the number of jobless increased by 3,164 persons from the previous month.

The October jobless total decreased 5.7 percent from the same month last year, which was the biggest annual fall since September 2023.

Registered unemployment was 2.60 million persons, which was the lowest figure for the month since 2007.

Among industrial sectors, construction registered a fall in unemployment compared to the previous month and the biggest gain was in services.

The labor ministry said a significant trend in hiring is confirmed with 43.5 percent contracts registered in October being permanent.

Results of the S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers' survey for October, released on Monday, showed that factory employment in Spain increased due to the booming business that led to faster depletion of backlogs of work.

Going forward, Spanish manufacturers are planning to hire more workers as they scale up production to meet the increased demand, the survey showed.

Meanwhile, unemployment among women remained at its lowest level since 2008, while those among men increased from September.

Youth unemployment, which is joblessness among young people under 25 years of age, rose 4.35 percent monthly or by 8,361 persons.

The report also showed that a total of 1,703,095 people claimed unemployment benefits at the end of September and the coverage ratio was 70.64 percent, which was the highest since 2010.