The year 2001 closed in the A.C. of Euskadi with 864,800 workers in the fourth quarter of 2001, 1% more than the previous quarter. In addition, the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2001 was 9.9%, the lowest since 1985 and below 10% for the first time. The number of unemployed dropped by 16,400 persons, while at the same time there was a fall in the number of active persons. The activity rate for persons of working age (53.5%) fell almost half a percent this quarter and the rate for 16 to 24 year olds fell 3 percent in the same period.

New maximum number of employed

The growing trend continued over the year, in the last quarter of 2001 the number of employed registered a net increase of over 9,000 persons in the A.C. of Euskadi. This figure is distributed between men (+4,800) and women (+4.400). This is also reflected in the three Provinces, although the increase was outstanding in Álava (+5,100), less so in Gipuzkoa (+2,800) and even less in Bizkaia (+1,400). However, by productive sectors only the services sector registered growth in this period (+14,200), as the primary and industry sectors did not vary hardly and construction fell (-3,800 persons).

Once again, the increase in employment occurred among salaried and cooperative workers (+8,300). Among salaried workers there was an increase in fixed contracts (+12,500) with regard to the previous quarter, while the number of temporary contracts fell (-3,900).

Unemployment rate fell to 9.9%, almost 2 percent below three months before

The unemployment rate for the fourth quarter of 2001 was 9.9%, i.e. a 1.6 percent fall in three months. The male unemployment rate fell 2.3 percent, to 6.2%, while the female rate fell less than 1% to 15.2%.

By Provinces, the unemployment rate fell in all cases, with the following differences. In the fourth quarter the unemployment rate was 6.1% in Álava, 7.5% in Gipuzkoa and, finally, the highest rate was 12.5% in Bizkaia,.

The number of unemployed, estimated at 94,900 at the end of 2001, fell by 16,400 persons in the last quarter. The fall occurred in all the groups, but especially among males (-13,800 persons), in the Province of Bizkaia (-7,500) and among unemployed seeking work for 2 years or more (-6,600), and among those seeking their first job (-6,400). Furthermore, reductions were significant among 16-24 year olds (-6,100) and 25-44 year olds (-6,800) and, according to family relations, sons/daughters (-11,300).

In the last quarter of 2001 there were 716,000 households in the A.C. of Euskadi, a quarter of which did not have an active member. Households whose active members are all unemployed amounted to 21,800 (3% of all households), practically the same amount as the previous quarter. Finally, more than 60% (16,800 more than the previous quarter) are households whose active members are all employed.

Number of employed grew almost 4% over the past year

Inter-annual variations (fourth quarter of 2001 with regard to fourth quarter of previous year) continue the same trend as the last quarter of 2001. The number of employed rose by over 30,000 (+3.7%) and the number of unemployed fell by 23,500 (-19.8% fewer unemployed), with a 2.5 percent reduction in the unemployment rate in the last twelve months.

The number of employed increased almost exclusively among women (+29,500 workers) in the services sector (+30,400), among salaried workers (+29,600) and indefinite contracts (+30,600).

In 2001 the number of unemployed fell 20%

At the end of 2001 the number of unemployed was below 100,000 and the reduction was by 23,500 persons over the year, i.e. 19.8% lower. The unemployment rate fell by 2.5 percent. This reduction is reflected an all groups studied (except for persons aged 45 and over). The reduction was outstanding among unemployed seeking employment for 2 years or more (-18,800) and strict unemployed, those who carried out no other activity than seeking employment (-18,600).

By Provinces, the relative reduction in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa is similar (slightly higher than 15%), but in Álava it was close to 40% over the past year. This is reflected in the variation in unemployment rates, in Gipuzkoa the unemployment rate fell by 1.7 percent and 2.6 percent in Bizkaia, while in Álava the reduction was 4.1 percent.

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