Unemployment falls in the Basque Country by 11.14% in 2021

The Basque Autonomous Community (CAV) has closed this 2021 with 14,395 fewer unemployed people, that is, 11.14% less unemployment, according to data registered in the Basque Employment Service, Lanbide, and which have been provided by the Department of Labor and Employment of the Basque Government.

At the end of this second year of the pandemic, there were registered in Lanbide 114 845 people. Last December, the number of unemployed people has also decreased in relation to November, specifically by 2.41%, since 2,934 fewer have been counted.

During the last month of the year, unemployment has fallen especially among the women, in the service sector, in the three historical territories and in almost all age groups, especially among young people.

These good data lead the Basque Government to affirm that all the destroyed jobs have already been recovered in this crisis. In fact, December leaves 2,392 fewer unemployed people than in February 2020, the last month before the health crisis began.

Unemployment falls more among women, although they are still the most affected

In December unemployment fell especially among women (2,585 less), while among men this drop was more modest (349 fewer unemployed persons). However, in year-on-year terms, the decline is greater among men (-7667) than among women (-6728), and despite them being the most affected at the initial moment of the crisis, “they are showing a greater capacity for recovery “, according to the Department directed by Idoia Mendia. Thus, more than the half of the people standing (55.4%) are women.

By age, the largest drop in unemployment is in the under-35 age group, it has dropped by 54%. There are, however, 28,280 young people looking for work (24%), even so there are 6,439 fewer than a year ago, 18% less. As for those over 45, they are still the bulk of the unemployed population, and they number 60,799, almost half of the applicants. This month unemployment has also fallen in this band and by almost 3,000 people this year.

By sectors, unemployment fell mainly in services (-3.1%) and in the primary sector (-1.4%) and increased in industry (+2.7%) and construction (+0.3% ). In the interannual calculation, these decreases are much more significant: industry (-14.3%), services (-11.3%) and construction (-10.7%). In addition, during this month of December, long-term unemployment was reduced by 791 people and also short-term by 2143.

Unemployment has fallen in all territories, a decrease led by Bizkaia, with 3.4% less (64,878 unemployed persons, 2,276 less), followed by Gipuzkoa (1.4%; 30,553, 417 less) and Álava ( 1.2%; 19 414, 241 less). In interannual terms, the best performance corresponds to Gipuzkoa, with a relative decrease of 11.27%, followed by Bizkaia with 11.22% and Álava with 10.65%. Among the capitals, in Bilbao unemployment fell by 677 people (-3%), in Vitoria-Gasteiz by 188 (-1.2%) and in San Sebastián by 221 people (-2.9%).