Press Release 18/07/2014
The population in work was up by 6,400 individuals and the unemployment figure was down to 15% in the second quarter of 2014 in the Basque Country
The active population grew and the activity rate stood at 57.3%
The data from the labour market in the Basque Country from the second quarter of 2014 showed that there were 892,700 people in work, which was a net increase of 6,400 compared with the previous quarter (+0.7%), according to Eustat data. On the other hand, the unemployment rate of the Basque Country stood at 15%, 0.5 percentage points down compared with the first quarter of 2014.
As a result of the change in the working and unemployed population, the activity rate was 57.3% in the second quarter of 2014, 0.1 percentage points above that of the previous quarter.
As far as gender was concerned, the rise in employment had a greater effect upon women, with 4,300 more in work than in the previous quarter, whilst the number of men in work increased by 2,000. Gipuzkoa was the province where employment rose the most, with 3,700 more people employed, followed by Álava with 1,400 more, and lastly Bizkaia, where the number of people employed rose by 1,100.
The rise in employment was concentrated in services and the primary sector
The employed population rose in the services sector by 6,500, and by 2,000 people in the agriculture, livestock and fishing sector, whilst in both the construction and industry sectors, the number of people employed decreased by 1,100.
The employment rate, the percentage of people in work aged 16 to 64 over the total for these ages, was up by 0.6 percentage points compared to the previous quarter, standing at 64%. This figure stood at 67.6% for men and 60.3% for women.
By province, the highest employment rate turned out to be that of Gipuzkoa, with 66.9% and an increase of 0.6 percentage points compared to the previous quarter; this was followed by Álava, with a rate of 64.9% and an increase of 0.9 points; lastly, Bizkaia had the lowest rate, with 62% and an increase of 0.5 percentage points in the last quarter.
The number of salaried individuals with a permanent contract fell by 8,800, and stood at 524,100, whilst the number of people on a temporary contract or without a contract increased by 12,300, bringing this total for this group up to 176,500.
In 47,800 households, all active individuals were unemployed
In the second quarter of 2014 it was estimated that there were 857,800 households in the Basque Country (600 fewer than the previous quarter) a third of which did not have any active individuals. In just over half of households, all of the active individuals were in work, 5,700 families more than the previous quarter; furthermore, households where all active individuals were unemployed stood at 47,800 (5.6% of the total), decreasing slightly.
The unemployed population fell by 5,000 and the unemployment rate fell from 15.5% to 15%
The unemployed population in the Basque country, that is, individuals who are available for work, actively making enquiries and seeking employment, was estimated to be 157,800 in the second quarter of the year, 5,000 down from the previous quarter. The number of unemployed men, 84,300 individuals, decreased by 1,500, whilst the number of unemployed women decreased by 3,500, reaching a total of 73,500 in the quarter.
The data for the second quarter of 2014 revealed an unemployment rate of 15%, 0.5 points less than the previous quarter. The male unemployment rate fell to 15.1% (0.3 percentage points down) and the female rate was down 0.7 points, reaching 14.9%. The youth unemployment rate continued to be the highest, and stood at 34.1%, affecting 16,500 active young people between the ages of 16 and 24, having decreased by a little more than three percentage points in comparison with the first quarter of 2014.
By province, the greatest decrease in the number of people out of work was in Álava (-2,300 individuals) where the unemployment rate stood at 15.4%. In Bizkaia, with 89,900 individuals out of work, the number of unemployed fell by 1,200, with the unemployment rate standing at 16.5%. In Álava, there were 1,500 fewer unemployed individuals than the previous quarter and the unemployment rate stood at 12.6%.
According to EUROSTAT, The Statistical Office of the European Union, in May 2014 the overall unemployment rate of the European Union-28 stood at 10.3% and that of Spain stood at 25.1%.
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Methodological note
New PRA data is available on the Eustat website, which are calculated using the new 2026 Population Projections, the starting data of which come from the 2011 Population and Housing Censuses.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tlf: 945 01 75 62
Further press releases on population in relation to activity survey (PRA)
Databank on population in relation to activity survey (PRA)