Andalucia recorded the largest drop in unemployment out of all the regions in Spain in July, new figures have revealed.

The number of people registered as unemployed in the region fell by 9,661 to 526,862 last month, representing the lowest level since December 2007.

Meanwhile, the decline in employment was far smaller than in July last year, when more than 16,000 jobs were lost.

Analysts say this year’s figures may have been influenced by Spain’s migrant regularisation programme, which has brought more workers into the official system.

The employment figures were also heavily affected by the end of the strawberry harvest in Huelva, where 19,150 seasonal workers came off payrolls.

Agriculture lost more than 30,000 registered workers across Andalucia during the month, while education shed 14,545 jobs following the end of the school year.

Despite this, several sectors continued to create jobs, led by healthcare and social services (+11,404), hospitality (+7,675), public administration (+5,150) and retail (+3,470).

The unemployment fall was driven overwhelmingly by the services sector, which accounted for almost 90% of the reduction, with 8,437 fewer people out of work.

At provincial level, Cadiz and Malaga led employment growth, adding 11,025 and 8,710 jobs respectively, followed by Granada (+1,841) and Jaen (+1,407).

Huelva saw by far the biggest employment decline (-19,150), followed by Almeria (-5,676) and Sevilla (-4,215).

The figures also showed continued strength among the self-employed. Andalucia gained 233 autonomos during July – the first increase for the month since 2021 – bringing the total number to 602,442.

Compared with July last year, Andalucia has added 106,159 Social Security contributors, the strongest annual increase for the month since 2022, while unemployment has fallen by 62,367 people over the past 12 months, the fastest annual July decline since 2023.

Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.