The latest figures from the Ministry of Employment showed that in February the number of unemployed fell by 7,452 people, to 2,760,408 people, while economists had expected an increase of 50,000. This is the lowest value for the month of February since 2008. On an annual basis, the number of unemployed decreased by 150,607 people or by 5.17%.
Compared to January, the number of unemployed decreased in the service sector (-8,548 people or -0.43%), in the construction sector (-2,433 people or -1.14%), in the industrial sector (-1,865 people or -0.86%) and in agriculture (-315 people or -0.32%).
Unemployment among women fell by 88,654 or -5.08%, while unemployment among men decreased by 61,953 or -5.31%. Unemployment among youth under the age of 25 increased by 6,601 people or 3.28% compared to January, but reached a record low in the historical series of 207,755 people in the month of February.
Last month, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) improved its forecast for Spanish GDP growth for 2024 by 0.1%, to 1.5%, while it maintains expectations of a rebound in activity to 2% by 2025. The OECD's updated forecasts maintain Spain as the best-performing large economy in the eurozone this year and next, and it is the only one to have seen its growth forecast for 2024 revised upwards.