MADRID (Reuters) -An eight-month decline in Spanish jobless figures slowed almost to a halt in October, official data showed on Wednesday, as the galvanising effect of eased COVID-19 restrictions began to wear off.
Just 734 fewer people registered as searching for work than in the previous month, a decline of 0.02%, the Labour Ministry data showed, down from drops of more than 2% in the previous months.
Still, the data marks the first time unemployment has fallen in October, when joblessness tends to rise as short-term work in tourism and farming dries up, since 1975, the ministry said.
By sectors, joblessness edged lower in services, construction and industry but jumped by 5.1% in agriculture, the data showed.
Overall, some 3.26 million people were out of work, about 570,000 fewer than a year ago.
Spain added 102,474 net jobs over the month, while some 48,512 people dropped out of a national furlough scheme to leave 190,718 supported by the programme, separate data from the Social Security Ministry showed.
(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez in Gdansk; Editing by Nathan Allen and Inti Landauro)
