MADRID: The latest Active Population Survey published on 23rd April reports that the number of people employed in the construction sector in Spain in the first quarter of 2015 was 1.06 million, 12.5% more than twelve months previously, and while some of this increase may be due to there being more activity related to public works contracts there seems to be little doubt that most of the improvement is due to more new homes being built.
However, no-one is getting carried away by this good news. Before the crisis took hold, in the first quarter of 2008, the construction sector provided employment for 2,679,500 people in Spain, since when over 60% of those jobs have been lost. The increase, in other words, comes in comparison to disastrously low figures a year ago.
