Spain’s labor market continues to improve. And in July it did so on two fronts: unemployment fell by 74,208 people, to a total of 4,046,276 registered unemployed, the best month of July since 1998; and in terms of the number of workers registered with Social Security, that number went up by 58,792 people.

That’s according to data released on Tuesday by the Ministry of Employment and Social Security.

Once the figures are adjusted for seasonal effects – i.e. taking into account the tourist season and agricultural work – the result is still positive: unemployment falls by 44,286 people, while the Social Security puts on 10,500 workers.

That said, the improvements seen in Spain’s stricken labor market in July owe a lot to these seasonal factors, which always have an effect in the summer months. Last month, nearly 1.8 million contracts were signed – a 9% rise on the same month last year. But the majority of them were temporary: fixed contracts accounted for just 6.9% of the total.

El País