MADRID, 27 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Unemployment rose by 103,800 people between January and March, which is 3.4% more than in the previous quarter, while employment fell by 11,100 jobs (-0.05%), its smallest decrease in a first quarter since 2007, the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported this Thursday.

At the end of March, the total number of unemployed stood at 3,127,800 people and that of employed, at 20,452,800 people.

The increase in unemployment in the first quarter of this year is the highest in a first quarter since 2020, when the outbreak of Covid led to a rise in unemployment of 121,000 people. In the first quarter of last year, unemployment rose by 70,900 people, less than it did in 2023.

The unemployment rate rose by almost four tenths in the first quarter, up to 13.26%, its highest value since the first quarter of 2022. For its part, the activity rate remained stable at 58.55%, after increase the number of active people by 92,700 between January and March (0.4%).

In the last year unemployment has been reduced by 47,000 people (-1.5%) and 368,000 jobs have been created (1.8%), while the volume of assets has increased by 321,100 people (1.4%) .

According to the INE, the number of employees fell in the first quarter by 23,200 people (-0.1%), concentrating all the adjustment in temporary employment (-117,000), since the number of employees with a permanent contract increased between January and March in 93,800 (0.66%), until exceeding 14.35 million. Thus, the temporary employment rate fell six tenths, to 17.28%.

(((WILL BE EXTENSION)))