Unemployment rises in Catalonia in August with over new 9,500 jobseekers

Unemployment rose in Catalonia in August for the second month in a row, with 9,554 new jobseekers, 2.8% more than in July.

In August there were 350,945 unemployed workers registered with the social security system, according to data released on Friday by the Spanish ministry of labor.

Despite the uptick, there are 40,183 fewer people looking for a job since twelve months before, 20.1% less. The figure for August 2022 is the lowest in the eighth month of the year since 2008, that is, the financial crisis.

The number of people unemployed in the jobseekers' office traditionally goes up in August with figures similar to that of this year. Since 2005, last year was the only one when the figure dropped between July and August (-4.2%), considering a much higher tourism activity compared to summer 2020.

Also, the number of people registered in social security dropped by 57,768 last month compared to the previous one (-1.58%). 

Across Spain, the number of jobless workers in the country remains below three million (2,924,240). However, unemployment increased by 40,428 people compared with July, 1.4% more.

Two ways of calculating unemployment

The figures differ from those from the latest Labor Force Survey (EPA in Spanish), which is published every three months. The variation in the figures can be attributed to the different methods for gathering data.

The work ministry figures, published in this article, are based on the number of jobseekers registered with the Employment Service, while the EPA figures are taken from surveying a broad sample of 65,000 households, or some 200,000 individuals, all over Spain.

According to the latest EPA, showing figures for the second quarter of 2022, the jobless rate in June 2022 stood at 9.29%, three points lower than a year before: 12.28%. 

There were 360,500 unemployed people at the end of June, which means 118,000 fewer than a year before.