The number of registered job seekers in crisis-hit Spain went down in December, after rising for four consecutive months, the Labour Ministry said Thursday.
Spain has an unemployment rate of 25 per cent.
However, the number of registered jobless people went down by nearly 60,000 in December to a total of 4.8 million, according to the ministry.
The government attributed the reduction to an increase in purchases and use of services such as restaurants during the Christmas season. However, the figures also indicated that unemployment is no longer growing as fast as before, employment secretary of state Engracia Hidalgo said.
During the whole of 2012, the number of job seekers in Spain had increased by nearly 430,000 people.
Nearly 5.8 million people are currently without a job in the country, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE) - the highest level since 1977.