By David Román
MADRID--Spain reported a sharp drop in the number of people
seeking unemployment benefits in November, evidence that its
economic recovery is boosting employment even as many job seekers
give up and leave the country.
The Labor Ministry said Tuesday that jobless claims last month
declined by 296,792 on the year, to 4.51 million. Compared with
October, the seasonally-adjusted number of jobless claims fell by
51,308, the second steepest month-on-month drop since the current
statistical series began in the mid-1990s.
Spain's economy has been steadily expanding since it emerged in
mid-2013 from its second recession in five years. Last month it
added 95,040 jobs, according to seasonally adjusted data, the
highest monthly increase since August 2005 when Spain was
experiencing a construction boom. Gross domestic product rose 0.5%
in the three months through September.
Prospects for continued job growth look promising. Last week the
Spanish unit of the Ford Motor Co. said it planned to hire 700
workers early next year as car makers keep up with growing demand
from the home market and abroad.
The Labor Ministry's jobless claims list is a different measure
from the benchmark quarterly unemployment rate published by the
government's statistics institute. The institute counted 5.43
million unemployed at the end of September, yielding an
unemployment rate of 23.7%--down from a peak of 27% in the first
quarter of last year.
Some analysts say an exodus of working-age people seeking jobs
elsewhere has been an equally strong contributor to the drop in
jobless claims.
The statistics institute said the workforce contracted by half a
percentage point in the third quarter from the same period last
year.
Ioan Smith, an analyst with KCG Europe, cited preliminary
government data showing that 257,000 more people--Spaniards and
foreigners--left Spain last year than moved to the country. The
data showed net emigration among Spaniards, many of them
highly-skilled, was 79,000.
Without that decrease in the workforce, Mr. Smith said, Spain's
unemployment rate would be well above 26%.
Spanish officials say job growth is strong--the result of a
labor market overhaul implemented in 2012 that made it cheaper for
companies to hire and fire employees and to switch working hours
and positions.
Deputy Labor Minister Engracia Hidalgo said Tuesday that the
number of full-time, permanent contracts in November was 28% higher
than in the same month a year ago. The trend is a boost for
economic activity, economists say, because workers on permanent
contract typically spend and invest more than those on temporary
contracts.
Visiting Paris on Monday, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy
said he expected Spain's unemployment rate to continue its downward
trend for the rest of the year "and hopefully more strongly
throughout 2015."
Jobless claims declined most sharply last month in construction,
by 1.7%--evidence of a modest rebound from a property bust that has
destroyed more than two million construction jobs since 2008.
Jobless claims in manufacturing, a sector boosted by rising car
sales, were down 1.2% from October. Data released Monday showed car
sales jumped 17.4% in November on the year.
Write to David Román at david.roman@wsj.com
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