In the last three months of 2015, the number of unemployed persons fell by 71.3 thousand to 4779.5 thousand. By region, the biggest declines in unemployment were recorded in Andalucía (-83.6 thousand unemployed persons), Valencia (-22.3 thousand) and Canarias (-20.1 thousand).
Employment went up by 45.5 thousand to 18094.2 thousand. The private sector added 31.2 thousand jobs in the last three months of 2015 and the public sector added 14.3 thousand. Job gains occurred in agriculture (+70.2 thousand) and services (+54.9 thousand) but employment decreased in industry (-55.5 thousand) and construction (-24.1 thousand). By region, the biggest job gains occurred in Andalucía (+61.3 thousand), Madrid (+39.4 thousand) and Valencia (+22.6 thousand) but losses were recorded in Illes Ballears (-53.8 thousand).
Considering full 2015, the number of unemployed decreased by 678.2 thousand persons or 12.43 percent, the biggest decrease on record while employment went up by 525.1 thousand or 2.99 percent.