The number of unemployed in Spain fell by 390 534 people in 2016 to 3.70 million, representing a decrease of 9.54% compared to 2015, show figures released Wednesday by the Spanish Ministry of Labour.
This decrease in the number of people registered in the National Agency for Employment is higher than that recorded in 2015, when the number of unemployed in Spain fell by 354 203 people, and also the largest annual drop ever recorded in Spanish history.
Only in December 2016 which traditionally is one favorable employment thanks to temporary contracts for the holidays year-end, the number of unemployed decreased by 86 849 people, more than the expectations of analysts who were betting on a decline of 50,000 people, and more than 55 790 people drop recorded in December, 2015.
Spanish Ministry of Labour did not provide figures for the unemployment rate. It is calculated by the National Statistics Institute (INE), based on a different methodology, and in the third quarter of last year stood at 18.9% of the working population, the second highest unemployment rate in the eurozone after Greece .
Objectives of prime minister Mariano Rajoy
Unemployment is declining in Spain since 2013 after several years of recession when the unemployment rate reached a record level of over 26% of the active population. The significant decrease in the number of unemployed in 2016 is mainly due to the services sector which registered 208 053 unemployed, with 7.69% less than in 2015 and the construction sector, where 77.249 registered unemployed, with 17.04% less than in 2015.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, in power since 2011 and reconfirmed in late October for a second term, has set an objective of creating 500,000 jobs per year to reach 20 million employees in 2020. Rajoy it is based on a robust economic growth of 3.2% annual pace in the third quarter, but will have to meet European Commission requirements but in terms of reducing the public deficit and the parliamentary opposition, which called for measures social to enable it to continue to govern.
