Spain sees significant fall in unemployment in July

A young woman sits on a bench in Barcelona, Spain, July 31, 2020. (Photo by Ismael Peracaula/Xinhua)

The number of people registered as unemployed in Spain fell by 89,849 to reach 3,773,034 in July, according to the monthly figures published by the Ministry of Labor, Migration and Social Security on Tuesday.

It is the biggest fall in unemployment in the month since 1997.

The period between March and June saw the number of people out of work in Spain rise by 616,836, with 282,891 jobs lost in April and 302,265 disappeared in March.

The number of people included in a Temporary Regulation of Employment (ERTE) which is a government scheme to help companies to preserve jobs in times of crisis, was also reduced to 1.18 million with 712,000 able to return to their jobs as companies returned to full productivity after the lockdown.

Although the recovery of tourism has been timid, the number of unemployed fell by 84,563 in the services sector with bars, restaurants and shops working at greater capacity, while the figures in the industry and construction sectors dropped by 9,444 and 6,556 respectively.

Agriculture was the only sector which saw the number of unemployment rise by 11,108.