Labor relapse in 2011 leaves 332K more unemployed, double 2010 levels

An ailing economy in the second quarter of 2011 is weighing on the labor market in Spain: the year ends with more 332,286 jobless than this time last year according to data that the Ministry of Employment and Social Security published yesterday. The job market worsened after the summer tourism season, a trend reflected in the data when comparing them to 2010 data when 176,470 people were added to the unemployment roster. In other words, unemployment nearly doubled during the past year.

Employment Public Services shows that unemployment grew by 7.86% last year, reaching a record high 4,422,359 jobless workers. December was the fifth consecutive month that jobless claims increased. There were 1,897 unemployment filings that month.

Calculator in hand, the Spanish labor market has tallied an additional 2,292,812 unemployed workers since the crisis began in 2008.

Christmas does not pay

The labor market tends to improve in December, but this year it slowed moderately compared to previous months. The stagnation was motivated by activity in the services sector (which saw 12,465 layoffs, the least amount seen in the sector since August) and those entering the job market without previous employment.

Unemployment is slowing down for the first time since July. Still, the Christmas season did not help boost jobs as it did last year when unemployment dropped by more than 10,000 people. The construction industry was particularly inactive this year.