The recently concluded 2023 represents a year of historical employment records for Catalonia, with 3,716,000 people working. This figure shows that in Catalonia there are more than 197,600 employed people, The most recent similar increase occurred in 2005, According to the Active Population Survey (EPA) of the National Institute of Statistics (INE). With these figures, the employment rate (employed people compared to the working-age population) in 2023 was 72.1%.
In what year did the increase in employment and decrease in unemployment occur? The active population increased by 176,800 people to exceed four million. However, when analyzed by gender, the figures are not uniform and unemployment has decreased by 21,600 for men, while it has increased by 700 for women. Specifically, in Catalonia 1.94 million men and 1.77 million women are employed.
The unemployment rate increased slightly compared to the second quarter, when it was 8.4%
Particularly with respect to the last quarter of 2023, Catalonia ended the year with an unemployment rate of 8.97%, which is the lowest rate in a fourth quarter since 2007. Specifically, the number of unemployed in Catalonia at the end of 2023 was 366,300. Despite being the best figure to close the year in more than a decade, the unemployment rate rose slightly compared to the second quarter, when it stood at 8.4%, a figure that represents around 8,600 people.
In the specific case of Barcelona, โโโโthe unemployment rate for the last quarter of the year was 8.44%, while the population employment rate was 57.6%. This was the highest figure of 2023 and more than 55% compared to the same period last year. In this case, the figures are also unequal between men and women: the employment rate for men in Barcelona was 61.5%, compared to 54.1% for women.
โYear of employmentโ
In this context, โ2023 has been the year of employment in Catalonia,โ declared Roger Torrent, Minister of Commerce and Labor of the Generalitat, when evaluating the EPA figures. Catalonia led employment growth at the state level with 5.6%. โ25% of the State's job creation comes from Cataloniaโ, so one in four new workers in Spain is in the Catalan region.
Torrent assures that the results of 2023 will be reflected โExtremely solid practices in the world of workโ, Even in a year full of global uncertainty. To move in this direction, and given the forecasts of economic recession, Torrent has guaranteed that the Government will work to reduce structural unemployment and attract new investments that create quality employment.
