jobless

At the end of June there were 31,900 fewer jobseekers in Catalonia than in March and 44,200 less than a year ago, according to the Active Population Survey for the second quarter of the year released on Thursday. These figures mean Catalonia's total number of unemployed was 726,200 individuals and that the unemployment rate was 19.1% at the end of the second quarter. In March, the unemployment rate was 20.05%; in December, 19.88%; and in September, 19.1% as well, the same as for June of this year. In addition, the number of people with a job increased by 51,800 individuals between March and June, a 1.71% increase in quarterly terms. Compared to a year ago, in June there were 35,000 more people with a job than in June 2014. At Spanish level, unemployment also decreased during the second quarter of the year, with 295,600 fewer jobseekers registered, a 5.43% reduction on figures from March. In the whole of Spain, there were 5,149,000 people without a job and a 22.37% unemployment rate overall.

Catalonia has a long history with immigration, welcoming foreigners from all over the world has left it with a cosmopolitan and multicultural nature. In more recent years, immigration has been well-documented by the Catalan Government and official statistics, which show various patterns. The first wave of people arriving in Catalonia, especially in the industrial capital of Barcelona, were domestic immigrants from within Spain, while later many came from South America and Northern Africa. The recent economic crisis caused a lull in these figures, but the number of foreign nationals from Asia and Europe (especially Italy and the UK) has increased over more recent years. Conscious of the need for sustainable co-living, Catalonia taken pains to accommodate its diverse population and the ACN spoke to several people about their experience moving to Barcelona.

At the end of March there were 840,200 unemployed people in Catalonia, 600 more than in December. This quarterly increase breaks the trend of 3 consecutive quarters with unemployment drops in Catalonia and puts the unemployment rate at 22.10%. However, in annual terms, Catalan unemployment was reduced by 108,800 on March 2013 figures, when the rate reached 24.45%. Unemployment has not decreased in annual terms in the first quarter of the year since 2007. The most negative news is the number of jobs lost between January and March 2014. In the first quarter of the year, 38,100 jobs were lost in Catalonia, 10,000 more than in the same period of 2013. In the whole of Spain, 184,600 jobs were lost between January and March 2014 and the unemployment rate reached 25.93%.

The Workers Commissions trade union (CCOO) has issued a study calculating that 595,000 jobs have been lost in Catalonia since 2008. Furthermore, the number of unemployed people has increased by 428,000 individuals. The study also revealed that the active population was reduced by 85,900 people (-2.3%) between 2011 and the last quarter of 2012. The Socio-Economy Secretary of CCOO said at the presentation of the study that “there are no objective indications of a short-term recovery of the economy or employment levels”.

The number of people registered as unemployed at the Catalan Public Employment Service (SOC) was reduced by 0.17% in March, compared to data from February. The total number of unemployed people in Catalonia registered at the SOC was 664,050 by the end of March, 1,126 fewer than in the previous month. However, this is 25,083 more people than a year ago. In the whole of Spain, the number of unemployed people decreased by 4,979 individuals last month. However, there are still more than 5 million people officially registered as unemployed in Spain. At the end of March there were 284,376 more people registered as unemployed than were registered a year ago, which is an increase of 5.99%.

Although the unemployment figure dropped 1.868 people in December, the year still ended with 912 more unemployed people than in 2009. The figure of jobless people in Catalonia on 31st December 2010 is 562,673. The annual assessment shows a slight increase of 0.16% in the figure in comparison to the end of 2009.

In July, the total number of Catalan jobless stands at 539,191, thanks to the creation of service sector summer jobs

Some young workers are becoming stuck into long-term unemployment, with little future perspectives. In addition, long-term unemployment has overtaken short-term unemployment.