The publication from the European Statistics Office added that such a setback was due to the blows of the Covid-19 pandemic, especially since mid-March 2020.

Of this figure, Spain have 19.69 million employed workers at the end of the first three months of 2021, compared to 20.21 million in the first quarter of 2020, representing 523,000 layoffs in one year.

In the European Union (EU) as a whole, the number of employed workers in the first quarter of 2021 reached 205.41 million, a downturn of 3.75 million compared to the same period in 2020.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, the euro zone lost 532,000 jobs despite the fact that in Spain, around 199,000 vacancies were gained. In contrast to the fourth quarter of 2020, employment in the EU as a whole decreased by 609,000 jobs.

jg/omr/mem/rfc