MADRID, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Spain's unemployment rose 2.61 percent in January from a month earlier, or 83,464 people, as employers cut temporary jobs for the Christmas season, official data showed Monday.
The end of the Christmas and New Year period had its traditional negative effect on the job market in Spain. This is the steepest January rise in unemployment since 2009 when the economic crisis shed around 200,000 jobs. The figure is well above the 63,747 rise in unemployment seen in 2018 or the 57,257 increase in 2017.
According to the report published by the Ministry of Labor, Migrations and Social Security on Monday, Spain had about 3.3 million people registered as unemployed at the end of January. It was 190,767 fewer than the same period in 2018 and a fall of 5.49 percent in the unemployment rate over the past 12 months.
As expected at the end of the holiday period, the service sector saw the biggest decrease of jobs, with many temporary posts in shops, bars and restaurants coming to an end.
