Unemployment

After showing signs of slowing in September, the unemployment rate plunged to 6.9 percent in October, down from 7.9 percent, driven by disproportionately higher job gains in the household employment survey, according to the latest economic analysis from the BBVA Research team.

Former Marine and new back end developer Jake Downard gets his day started early. While we could easily attribute that to his Marine training, he’s more likely to tell you that it’s because he’s just excited about his job.

Downard is a part of a team of back end developers at BBVA Compass, but he’s among an elite group trained at one of Birmingham’s newest programs to help develop a tech workforce among the underemployed and unemployed in the burgeoning tech city. The program, dubbed I Am Bham, is part of the Innovate Birmingham Workforce Development program, a set of three educational pathways that were funded by a nearly $6 million America’s Promise grant awarded to the city in 2016. BBVA Compass is among the program’s 30 some odd hiring partners.

The development of new technologies as a means to alleviate workloads is part of the day to day running of businesses. Increasingly, robots, artificial intelligence, and computer algorithms are taking over humans in the execution of mechanical tasks. However, many theoreticians are wary of the consequences this development will bring upon the workplace. Darrel M. West discusses the impact of these emerging technologies on society in the book 'The Next Step. Exponential Life', which can be downloaded for free from the BBVA OpenMind project website.

Fintech firms could be the saving grace for the U.K.’s financial sector, but greater complications to attract global talent could pose a serious problem. It all depends on the political negotiations.

BBVA Research maintains Spain’s growth forecast at 2.7% for the 2016-2017 two year period, according to its recent report Spain Economic Outlook. Chief Economist for the BBVA Group and Director of BBVA Research, Jorge Sicilia, and Chief Economist of Developed Economies at BBVA Research Rafael Doménech presented the report today. BBVA Research indicates that “in 2Q16, the economy could see four consecutive quarters of GDP growth around 0.8% (3.2% annualized), which would mean an upward bias for 2016 forecasts.” The growth of the Spanish economy is expected to create approximately one million jobs in two years. However, some strongholds are weakening. This and other foreseen risks mean a downward bias for growth in 2017.

Economist, professor, advisory and director of several organizations related to economic research… Rafael Domenech’s professional life has always been connected to economics, and in parallel, to teaching. Chief Economist of Developed Economies at BBVA Research since 2009, Domenech is also a Professor of Economic Analysis at the University of Valencia. This fact permeates all of his explanations, which those who attend his presentations describe as “very educational”.

Born in Sao Paulo while his parents spent a five year period there, he is Brazilian by birth but Valencian by adoption and believes that there is a great need for education in economics. He is the author of numerous articles in prestigious international and national magazine on human capital, growth, economic cycles and monetary and fiscal policies, and recently published a book, 'En busca de la prosperidad (The Search for Prosperity)' that includes measures the Spanish economy should take to increase employment, equity and well-being.

He holds a Master of Science degree from the London School of Economics and a PhD in Economics. He has also worked as a collaborating researcher for the OECD, the European Commission, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Rafael del Pino Foundation, among others.  The author of numerous publications, together with other BBVA Research team members he has prepared an Economic Observatory with proposals to reform the labor market in Spain, which was published today (in Spanish).