Caldera hails immigrants’ economic contribution

5 January 2005

MADRID-Spain’s employment minister hailed the contribution of immigrants to improving the country’s economy.

Jesus Caldera said Spain had created a net 400,000 jobs last year.

He welcomed the role of immigrants in the labour market, saying they had helped brake a decline in the country’s productivity.

Immigrants were hired for 34 percent of the new jobs created in Spain during the first nine months of 2004, according to a report by the state research institute ISESE published by the Spanish  daily El Mundo.

Caldera’s comments came as his ministry officially released the latest unemployment figures.

The number of jobseekers in Spain fell by more than two percent in 2004, the first yearly decline since 2000.

At end-December, a total of 1.67 million people were registered looking for work, a decline of 41,197 or 2.41 percent.

The ministry said the number of jobless people fell by 12,432, or 0.74 percent in December from November.

For the full-year 2004, the number of jobless fell in all sectors except services, where it rose by 1,866, or 0.19 percent.

In the third quarter last year, the unemployment rate fell to 10.54 percent from 10.93 percent in the previous quarter, according to the economy ministry.

The economy ministry will publish fourth-quarter and full-year 2004 unemployment data on January 28.
  
[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news