Spanish unemployment ticks up in November as COVID measures stall hiring

The number of people registering as jobless in Spain edged up by 0.66% in November from a month earlier as restrictions to contain a second wave of COVID-19 infections slowed employment activity, official data showed on Wednesday.

Registered job seekers rose by 25,269, leaving 3.9 million people out of work, the Labour Ministry data showed.

However, with much of Spain hit by a fresh series of restrictions linked to the second wave of the pandemic, the government breathed a sigh of relief that the data was not worse.

The 0.66% increase, “which is lower than the average for the last 12 years, shows that flexibility measures have cushioned the impact of the second wave,” Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz tweeted.

November’s data marks the second month with a slight increase in unemployment after a dip in September thanks to a hiring spree in education and the civil service coinciding with the start of the academic year.

While Spain added 31,638 net jobs in November, marking the seventh consecutive month of job creation, the number of people being supported by the government’s ERTE furlough scheme increased by nearly 18,487 over the same period to close to 750,000, Social Security Ministry data showed.

Since September, when several regions including Madrid imposed restrictions on bars, restaurants and hotels, the number of people supported by the ERTE programme has jumped by 40,650.

Almost half of the workers currently enrolled belong to the hospitality sector, the ministry said.

Main Photo: A man walks past an empty terrace of a bar near the Aqueduct in Segovia, Spain. EPA-EFE/PABLO MARTIN