Employment reaches record levels in Catalonia despite the rise in unemployment. The number of employed people rose by more than 60,000 and reached 3.716 million employed people, a record, during the third quarter. Unemployment, for its part, increased by 8,600 people, which has pushed the unemployment rate to 8.5%, slightly above the previous 8.44%, according to data from the Active Population Survey (EPA) published this Thursday.
The trend repeats what has happened in Spain as a whole, where employment and unemployment have increased. Both figures may rise as employment may be created and more people may sign up for unemployment to qualify for a job.
As for those employed, 62,400 new jobs have been generated. Only the Valencian Community (80,700) exceeds the job creation registered in Catalonia in absolute terms. If we broaden our view to the last year as a whole, it is where the most progress has been made, with 156,500 new jobs, compared to the 130,000 in the Valencian Community and the 119,300 in Madrid.
Catalonia is the sixth autonomous community where unemployment has increased the most in absolute numbers between July and September, with Madrid (37,600 more unemployed) and Andalusia (30,700 more unemployed) at the forefront. In this way, the autonomy had 345,400 workers on the unemployment lists at the end of September, despite a reduction of almost 20,000 since last year. The unemployment rate is somewhat higher among women, at 8.95%, compared to 8.09% among men.
By province, the lowest unemployment is in Lleida, with 7.63%, followed by 8.35% in Barcelona, 9% in Girona and 9.59% in Tarragona. Among women in the latter, there is the highest unemployment rate in Catalonia, at 10.70%.
The inactive have decreased in Catalonia until June 2023 to 2.48 million, compared to the 2.5 million that there were until June.
