MADRID: Spain's unemployment rate fell for the second straight year in 2014, official data showed Thursday, but at 23.7 percent the country's labor market still faces a long road to recovery.
Joblessness fell from 25.7 percent in 2013 as the large services sector took on more staff, driven by a strong tourist season and a rebound in construction activity, the national statistic office said.
The fall was greater than what had been expected by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative government, which had forecast the country would end 2014 with a jobless rate of 24.2 percent.
The Spanish economy, the euro zone's fourth-largest, has enjoyed modest but steady growth since emerging in mid-2013 from its second recession after the collapse of a property bubble in 2008 which brought Spain to the verge of default and threw millions of people out of work.
Labour Minister Fatima Banez said 2014 had been "the year of employment".
Employment increased by 433,900 last year. By sectors employment increased by 344,200 positions in services, by 98,000 in industry and by 40,000 in construction but decreased by 48,400 in agriculture.
Spain received a record 65 million visits from foreign tourists in 2014, the government said Thursday, giving a fresh boost to the country's recovering economy and helping service sector job creation.
Unlike in 2013, the drop in unemployment last year was due to the creation of jobs instead of a decline in the labor force, said Jose Garcia Montalvo, economics professor at Barcelona's Pompeu Fabra University.
"These numbers are good," he told AFP.
He points out however that the vast majority of new jobs that were created are temporary.
The government estimates the economy will have expanded by 1.4 percent in 2014 and will grow by 2.0 percent in 2015, a faster growth rate than is expected in France, Germany and Italy.
Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said the forecasts could be revised upward. "I think these figures could be better," he said during a television interview.
Rajoy, who is facing a general election at the end of the year, credits a 2012 labor law reform which has made it easier for employers to lay off workers or reduce their wages, thus reducing their risk in creating jobs.
But unions say the reforms unfairly favor employers and destroy hard-fought rights and have only helped create low wage and short-term jobs.
A total of 5.46 million people were unemployed in Spain at the end of 2014, according to the statistics office.
The jobless rate remains the highest in the European Union after Greece's, which stood at 25.8 percent in October, the last available figures.
The unemployment rate in the entire euro zone in November stood at 11.5 percent, less than half the rate in Spain.
Economists warn that the sky-high jobless rate is still a major drag on an economic turnaround in Spain, with many households struggling to make ends meet and youths failing to enter the workforce.
The jobless rate among those under the age of 25 stands at 51.8 percent while the number of Spanish households where all family members in the workforce are out of work fell by 23,100 to 1.77 million in 2014.
The government predicts Spain's unemployment rate will drop to 22.2 percent at the end of 2015.
The International Labour Organization is more pessimistic. In its latest forecasts published on Tuesday it predicted Spain will have a jobless rate of 23.8 percent at the end of 2015. It sees the country's jobless rate remaining above 20 percent until the end of the decade.
Spanish second-largest bank BBVA forecasts it will take 8-10 years for Spain's jobless rate to return to the levels close to those that existed before the property bubble collapsed.
Spain's unemployment rate stood at 8.57 percent in 2007, its lowest annual level since the country returned to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.
Spain jobless rate drops but long road ahead to recovery
Spain jobless rate drops but long road ahead to recovery
MENA startups land fresh capital, deals, and momentum
- Mega-rounds and strategic deals signaling investors’ continued appetite
RIYADH: Capital kept moving across the Middle East and North Africa as January came to an end, with mega-rounds, record local fundraises, and strategic deals signaling investors’ continued appetite for scalable platforms, from property and wealth tech to insurance tech, mobility, and Arabic-first artificial intelligence.
Saudi Arabia-based wealthtech Vennre raised $9.6 million in a pre-series A round structured through a mix of equity and debt.
The round was co-led by Vision Ventures and anb seed Fund, with participation from Sanabil 500, Ace & Co, Plus VC, and a group of strategic individual investors.
Founded in 2021 by Ziad Mabsout, Anas Halabi, and Abdulrahman Al-Malik, Vennre focuses on providing high earners with Shariah-compliant access to private market investments.
The company said the new capital will be used to expand its client base, roll out new platform features, and deepen its presence in Saudi Arabia in line with Vision 2030 and the growth of the local fintech sector.
Property Finder secures $170m
UAE-based property tech Property Finder has raised $170 million in new funding led by Mubadala Investment Company, alongside another UAE sovereign wealth fund and BECO Capital.
Under the transaction, Mubadala and the second sovereign investor will each invest $75 million, while BECO Capital will commit $20 million from its recently launched $250 million Growth Fund I.
Founded in 2007 by Michael Lahyani and Renan Bourdeau, Property Finder operates a marketplace that enables users to search for properties to buy or rent using advanced filtering tools.
The investment follows a $525 million round in 2025 led by Permira, with significant participation from Blackstone Growth, bringing total equity raised to nearly $700 million.
The company has also secured $250 million in debt financing from Ares Management and HSBC, making it one of the largest funding stories in MENA tech.
Property Finder said the fresh capital will support its ambition to build the region’s leading real estate operating system, focused on transparency, trust, and data-driven decision-making.
Yakeey sees record Moroccan series A round
Beltone Venture Capital has made a strategic equity investment in Moroccan proptech Yakeey as part of the startup’s $15 million series A round, the largest completed in Morocco to date.
The round also includes IFC, Enza Capital, and 212 Founders. Founded to modernize Morocco’s fragmented real estate sector, Yakeey is building an end-to-end digital platform that integrates property search, valuation, brokerage, and financing.
The company said its early scalability and growing broker network position it for regional expansion as demand rises for transparent, digitised real estate services across North Africa.
Enakl closes $2.3m seed round
Startup Enakl has closed a $2.3 million seed funding round, finalized in December, following an initial $1.4 million round completed at the end of 2024.
The round brought in new Moroccan investors Azur Innovation Fund, Witamax, and MFounders, alongside reinvestment from Catalyst Fund and Digital Africa.
Founded in 2022 by Samir Bennani and Charles Pommarede, Enakl develops technology to design and manage flexible shared transport networks for companies and public-sector actors.
The company said the funds will be used to strengthen commercial teams, launch the first version of its Software-as-a-Service product, and test new development models for ridepooling fleets, following its first pilot public contract with the Casablanca–Settat Region.
Glamera Holding signs MoU to acquire Bookr Group
Middle East–based lifestyle technology platform Glamera Holding has signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire Bookr Group, a multi-market operator active across Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.
Founded in 2022 by Mohamed Hassan Hijazi and Omar Fathy, Glamera operates a technology platform for the beauty and wellness sector and has processed transactions exceeding SR4 billion ($1.07 billion), supporting more than 4,500 service providers.
Bookr Group runs a service-provider management platform and consumer booking application with more than 300,000 users.
Glamera said the acquisition will strengthen its regional footprint and support its ambition to build a unified, AI-powered ecosystem for service providers and end users, with the combined platform expected to serve millions across the Middle East.
Mantas raises $1.77m seed
UAE-based insurance tech Mantas has emerged from stealth with a $1.77 million seed funding round to launch parametric insurance products covering cloud outages and digital downtime.
The round includes Nuwa Capital, Suhail Ventures, and Plus VC, as well as OQAL Angel Syndicate, and a group of angel investors.
Founded in 2024 by Basil Mimi, Mantas combines cloud outage insurance with real-time risk monitoring, targeting digital-first businesses such as fintechs, airlines, e-commerce platforms, SaaS providers, and regulated enterprises.
The company said the funds will support product development, risk modelling, and early customer deployments across MENA and North America.
Juthor raises $500k pre-seed
Saudi Arabia-based e-commerce startup Juthor has raised $500,000 in a pre-seed round led by Flat6Labs, with participation from angel investors.
Founded in 2025 by Lolwah Binsaedan and Irfan Khan, Juthor is building a cloud-based platform to help retailers manage sales across multiple online marketplaces through real-time stock synchronization and AI-driven customer insights.
The company said the capital will be used to build scalable infrastructure and accelerate product development in Saudi Arabia and beyond.
Yozo.ai secures $1.7 million pre-seed
UAE-based e-commerce AI startup Yozo.ai has raised $1.7 million in pre-seed funding, with the round co-led by Access Bridge Ventures and Disruptech Ventures, with participation from Arzan VC, Oraseya Capital, and Plus VC, as well as Suhail Ventures, Glint Ventures, and M-Empire Angels.
Founded in early 2025, Yozo builds an AI-native revenue engine designed to automate e-commerce growth and retention marketing.
The company said the funding will support product development and international expansion beyond MENA.
Abwaab acquires Apex Education
Jordan-based education tech platform Abwaab has acquired Egypt-based college admissions advisory Apex Education for an undisclosed amount.
Founded in 2019, Apex Education provides personalized admissions guidance to students applying to leading global universities, while Abwaab operates a digital tutoring platform across Jordan, Egypt, and Pakistan.
Abwaab said the acquisition strengthens its end-to-end offering, extending from tutoring through to international university admissions.
Arabic.AI collaborates with Stanford University
Arabic.AI has announced a collaboration with Stanford University’s Center for Research on Foundation Models to establish the first holistic benchmark for evaluating Arabic large language models.
The initiative will extend Stanford’s HELM framework into Arabic, providing a transparent and reproducible reference for assessing model performance and risk.
Arabic.AI said the collaboration supports its mission to advance Arabic-first AI models while contributing a public research asset for the wider AI and enterprise ecosystem.
