The number of jobless fell by a record 678,200 to 4,779,500 in 2015, the greatest annual drop in Spanish history. Such figures have not been seen since late 2010.

Overall data show that 2015 was generally a good year for the job market, although the unemployment rate is still 20.9%, according to the workforce sample study Active Population Survey (EPA), released on Thursday.

Employment figures for 2015 are also good, the survey shows. The year ended with an additional 525,100 people in work, for a total of just over 18 million individuals in employment, a 3% rise from late 2014.

The last time employment figures rose at a similar rate was in 2006, before the start of the economic crisis.

Two days ago, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos advanced that the drop in unemployment would be “the most intense in our country’s history.”

Broken down by sectors, the majority of hirings in the last quarter were in agriculture (70,200) and services (54,900), while jobs were lost in industry (55,500) and construction (24,100). Employment grew in all sectors in annual terms.

In 2015, the number of households with all members out of a job fell 11.9% from 2014, to reach 1,556,600 homes.

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El País