MADRID (Reuters) – Unemployment fell and net jobs were created in November in Spain, reflecting strength in the labour market despite a slowing economy, official data showed on Friday.
The figures follow other recent data showing a slight easing of inflation and better than expected retail sales, raising hopes that Spain could eventually avoid slipping into recession this winter, as all major analysts’ most recent forecasts indicate.
The number of people registering as jobless in Spain fell by 1.2% in November from a month earlier, or by 33,512 people, data from the Labour and Social Security Ministries showed. That left a total of 2.88 million people out of work, the lowest in a month of November since 2007.
Spain added 78,695 net formal jobs during the month to 20.32 million jobs, according to seasonally adjusted data, making it the 19th month of job creation in a row, a separate report from the Social Security Ministry showed.
BBVA Research on Thursday upgraded its forecasts for Spain, with the economy expected to grow by 4.6% in 2022, in line with the latest IMF forecast. By 2023, analysts expect growth to be above 1%, while the Spanish government expects 2.1%.
October retail sales data released this week also showed better than expected consumer spending, accompanied by a slowdown in inflation to 6.6% in November.
Employment is particularly strong in technical jobs, which the government says is related to the deployment of European recovery funds.
(Reporting by Joao Manuel Mauricio in Gdansk and Belén Carreño in Madrid, editing by Inti Landauro and Susan Fenton)
