Economic Overview of Spain 2023

When we talk about trade, the Spanish economy prospers from a low import-high export method which was initially implemented after the global financial crisis in order to help the country become more profitable. The country’s exports reached pre-crisis levels and saw continuous growth over the years, to the point that Spain became one of the world’s top exporters. Despite the economic slump due to the crisis, Spain now seems to recover slowly and forecasts are rather optimistic, in 2014, Spain was even among the countries with the largest GDP worldwide as reported by Statista.

The unemployment rate in Spain from 1st quarter 2005 to 2nd quarter 2022 | Statista

Spain's unemployment rate fell to 12.48 per cent in the quarter ending June of 2022 from 13.65 per cent in the previous three-month period and below market expectations of 13.00 per cent. It was the lowest jobless rate since September of 2008, with the number of unemployed people dropping by 255.3 thousand from the previous period to 2.919 million and employment rising by 383.3 thousand people to 20.468 million. By sector, unemployment fell the most in services (-120.7 thousand persons), industry (-18.100 thousand persons), and agriculture (-10.0 thousand persons). The labour force participation rate inched up to 58.71 per cent from 58.50 per cent in the previous period. The age group with the highest distribution of unemployment is teenagers (16 to 19 years). Recent quarterly unemployment figures in Spain show that unemployment peaked in the first quarter of 2013, whereby there were approximately 6.28 million inhabitants unemployed, by the same quarter in 2017 unemployment had decreased by over 2 million. This trend is also reflected in the number of people in employment in Spain.

The economy could remain practically stagnant during the coming quarters, or even register moderate falls, as a consequence of the increase in uncertainty, the increase in inflation expectations and the rise in interest rates. The sanctions against Russia, along with its gas cuts, confirm that it will be necessary to continue reducing energy consumption and acquiring alternative sources at higher prices to spend a winter without rationing on the continent. Although the latter was already part of the scenario presented in July, the cost of gas has increased more than expected. This will have negative consequences on activity, especially in industry and in some energy-intensive services. 

Read More: Check out the International Students’ Guide to Study in Spain to get a detailed idea about what the country offers in terms of academic tenure.