SPAIN’S workforce shrank at a quickening pace in the first quarter, underlining the tough challenge the government faces in trying to sell a recovery to disgruntled voters — even after nine months of economic growth.

    Winter is traditionally bad for jobs in tourism-dependent Spain, and national statistics institute data showed Tuesday the unemployment rate rose modestly over the period, inching up two decimal points to 25.9 percent.

    But numbers either working or available for work dropped by 187,000 to 22.884 million, the sharpest quarterly fall for a first quarter in at least six years. The number of employed fell by 184,600 to 16.961 million, though this was the lowest first quarter drop in six years.

    Spain’s economy is picking up after slumping since 2008. But its people, ground down by a jobless rate that has not dropped below 25 percent since 2012, have continued to leave the labor force in droves every month.

    Some retire, but others — especially those under 25, immigrants or the long-term unemployed — go abroad in search of work or stop actively seeking jobs.

    “Many young people have stopped looking. There is a large number of people who are long-term unemployed that have stopped sending their resumes and have stopped asking family and friends,” said Sara de la Rica, economist at the Basque Country University and researcher at think tank Fedea.

    Private sector employment and industrial jobs were both still disappearing, de la Rica said, adding that this was a bad sign for the economy, which the government has forecast will grow at an accelerating rate over the next two years.

    Spain’s unemployment rate has come down from a peak of almost 27 percent a year ago. But it is still the second highest in the European Union, with almost a quarter of all those unemployed in the 28-country region residing there.

    (SD-Agencies)