Press Release 20/07/2018

SURVEY ON POPULATION IN RELATION TO ACTIVITY. II/2018

The unemployment rate fell to 10.1%, and the employment rate increased by 2.6% in the second quarter of 2018 in the Basque Country

The unemployment rate fell by 1 percentage point, from 11.1% to 10.1%, in the last year.

The data from the labour market in the Basque Country from the second quarter of 2018 showed that there were 940,300 people in work, which was an increase of 23,400 compared with the previous quarter (+2.6%), according to Eustat data. On the other hand, the unemployment rate of the Basque Country stood at 10.1%, 1.2 percentage points down on the first quarter of 2018.

As a result of the change in the working and unemployed population, the activity rate was 57% in the second quarter of 2018, five percentage points above that of the previous quarter.

By province, the highest increase in employment was in Bizkaia, with 14,100 more people in work; followed by Álava with 5,800 and Gipuzkoa with 3,600. As regards the capitals, Vitoria-Gasteiz had the highest increase in employment, with 4,500 more people in work; it was followed by Bilbao with 3,400, whereas in Donostia / San Sebastián there was no change.

As far as gender was concerned, the rise in employment had a greater effect on women, with 15,200 more in work than in the previous quarter, whilst the number of men in work increased by 8,200.

Most new employment was in the services sector, with the creation of 19,300 net jobs

The employed population in the Basque Country increased by 19,300 in the Services sector, 3,400 in Industry and 800 in the Primary Sector, while in Construction the number of people employed fell by 200.

The employment rate, calculated as the percentage of people in work aged 16 to 64 over the total for these ages, rose by 1.9 percentage points compared to the previous quarter, standing at 68.3%. This figure reached 72% for men and 64.7% for women.

By province, the highest employment rates turned out to be those of Álava and Gipuzkoa, with 69.8% and an increase in respect of the previous quarter of 3.4 and 1.2 percentage points, respectively; in Bizkaia, the employment rate rose by 1.9 percentage points to stand at 67%.

There was an increase in the number of households where all active individuals were employed and a fall in those where all active members were unemployed

In the second quarter of 2018 it was estimated that there were 885,000 households in the Basque Country, a third of which did not have any active individuals. In just over half of households, all of the active individuals were in work, 9,500 families more than the previous quarter; furthermore, households where all active individuals were unemployed stood at 35,500, 4,400 households fewer than in the previous quarter.

The unemployment rate fell to 10.1%, 1.2 percentage points less than the previous quarter

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 106,200 in the second quarter of the year, 10,400 down on the previous quarter. The number of unemployed women, 54,500 individuals, was down by 7,300, whilst the number of unemployed men fell by 3,000, reaching a total of 51,700 for the quarter.

The data for the second quarter of 2018 revealed an unemployment rate of 10.1%, 1.2 points less than the previous quarter. The male unemployment rate stood at 9.5% (0.6 percentage points down) and the female rate was down 1.6 points, reaching 10.9%. The youth unemployment rate continued to be the highest, and stood at 20.7%, affecting 9,200 active young people between the ages of 16 and 24.

By province, the greatest decrease in the number of people out of work was in Bizkaia (-5,000 individuals) where the unemployment rate stood at 11.6%, 1.1 percentage points down on the previous quarter. In Gipuzkoa, with 26,000 people out of work, the number of unemployed fell by 3,000 and the unemployment rate decreased by 0.9 points to 7.7%. In Álava, there were 2,300 fewer unemployed people than the previous quarter and the unemployment rate was down 1.7 percentage points (10.5%).

Unemployment was also down in the three capitals; the highest fall was in Bilbao, with 3,700 fewer people out of work; followed by Vitoria-Gasteiz (-1,900) and, finally, Donostia / San Sebastián where the unemployed population was reduced by 400.

According to EUROSTAT, the Statistical Office of the European Union, in May 2018 the overall unemployment rate of the European Union-28 stood at 7 % and that of Spain stood at 15.8%.

In the last year, the number of people in work increased and the number of people out of work decreased

The employed population in the Basque Country has grown in relation to the second quarter of 2017 by 14,700 people, 1.6% more, with 9,400 more employed men and 5,400 more employed women.

The unemployment rate was down by one percentage point (from 11.1% to 10.1%), with 9,500 fewer unemployed individuals in the Basque Country compared to the data from the second quarter of 2017.

98.9% of average registered workers were in work, according to ILO criteria

It is estimated that there were 865,500 registered workers for the quarter on average in the Basque Country, i.e. the number of individuals residing in the Basque Country who were registered for Social Security at the time of the survey. Of those, the PRA estimates that 98.9% were employed, according to criteria from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a total of 856,000 individuals.

Amongst those employed according to ILO criteria in the PRA, 76,800 people, 8.2%, were not registered in the Social Security system, either because they did not work for companies based in the Basque Country, or they belonged to public mutual societies for civil servants, or are in other situations.

29.6% of those unemployed were not registered as unemployed with the Basque Employment Institute (Lanbide)

It is estimated that there was a quarterly average of 108,300 unemployed individuals registered with Lanbide, i.e. individuals residing in the Basque Country who were registered in Lanbide at the time of the survey in any one of the categories designated for registered unemployment. Of those, 67.4% were unemployed according to the ILO definition (73,000 unemployed individuals). Of the individuals unemployed according to the ILO definition in the PRA, 29.6% were not registered as unemployed with Lanbide (31,400 individuals), even though they may be registered under other categories.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel: 945 01 75 62