Thirty-one jobs were created in Spain this August. But September data show that August numbers reflected temporary hiring for the summer tourism season, and job cuts are still hurting the country. 25,572 people lost their jobs in September. On the bright side, this number is smaller than recent months.
More important, more people are paying social security taxes. 99,000 people stopped paying into the system in August compared to 22,242 in September. Compared to last year's numbers, fewer and fewer people are losing jobs. This means that within a few months we could see an end to job loss in Spain.
This does not mean that unemployment will be fixed quickly. And the government should not rest on its laurels, because it has promised to increase the number of jobs by 0.7% in 2014. This goal will be nearly impossible to meet.