Spain’s February jobless rises 0.1% from January to 2.91 million

(Reuters) – The number of people registering as jobless in Spain rose by 0.1% in February from a month earlier, or by 2,618 people, leaving a total of 2.91 million people out of work, data from the Labour Ministry showed on Thursday.

The number of unemployed people was the lowest registered in a month of February since 2008, the ministry said, adding that the data reflected “a trend of stability in the labour market”.

Spain gained 81,808 net formal jobs in February to 20.4 million jobs, after a January job gain, a separate report from the Social Security Ministry showed.

Meanwhile, consumer prices in Spain rose 6.1% year-on-year in February – a faster pace than the 5.9% during the 12 months to January – preliminary data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Jakub Olesiuk, editing by David Latona)