During 2007 the evolution of the labour market was in general positive in both Barcelona and Catalonia, marking the culmination of a long and intense expansion phase. Barcelona closed the year with a rate of unemployment of 5.8 %, the second lowest since 2001, while unemployment in Catalonia stood at 6.5 %, for the third year running below the average for the European Union (7.2 %) for the EU-15 (7 %) and for Spain as a whole (8.2 %).
Meanwhile, Catalonia's active population amounts to more than 3.7 million people, with the region representing the European Union's fourth-largest labour market. In terms of rates of activity in both Catalonia and the city of Barcelona itself, which rose to 77.4 %, the figures are markedly above the European average. Similarly, employment rates have continued to rise, as high as 72.9 % in Barcelona, a figure which surpasses the records for the rest of Catalonia and for the EU, in addition to the European targets set for 2010. In 2007 the city similarly continued to create more employment, a phenomenon which has been seen constantly since 1995, with almost 19,000 new jobs coming into existence. In qualitative terms, it should be highlighted that in Barcelona permanent contracts make up more than 17 % of all employment contracts.
From the autumn of 2007 onwards, however, the international financial crisis and the progressive slow-down in the pace of economic activity did impact on the evolution of the employment market, above all in 2008. From the second half of 2008 onwards, for example, we find a considerable increase in the number of unemployed, with a net destruction of jobs for the first time in fourteen years both in Barcelona and Catalonia, and across Spain as a whole. Nonetheless, the intensity of this process is more moderate in Barcelona, which has more than 1 million workers registered with the Social Security, and has a rate of unemployment similar to that for the Eurozone as a whole.
In the field of training, Barcelona has further established its international appeal as a city in which to pursue post-graduate studies, being the only city in Europe with two business schools among the top nine in the Financial Times ranking of the best business schools, and three in the world's top 100 according to the Financial Times world MBA rankings.
As for the UBS indicator comparing hours worked per year and days of paid vacation in various cities around the world, Barcelona is positioned in the middle of the table. The city thus balances the needs of business owners with a satisfactory quality of life for workers.
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