UPDATE 1-Spain's fourth-quarter jobless rate slips in good news for growth

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MADRID, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Spain's jobless rate unexpectedly edged lower in the fourth quarter, data showed on Thursday, giving more credibility to the government's forecast that the economy kept recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the period.

The National Statistics Institute (INE) said the unemployment rate stood at 16.13% in October-December, down from 16.26% three months earlier, but still much higher than 13.78% a year ago as the country's economic activity remained hindered by restrictions seeking to curb the pandemic.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast Spain's unemployment rate would reach 16.6%.

The number of those without a job fell by 3,100 to around 3.72 million, while those employed rose 0.87% to 19.34 million.

The rate does not include furloughed workers and other people who do not meet certain technical criteria, meaning the true figure of those not actually working is significantly higher.

"Job creation in the second part of the year has allowed recovering a large part of what was lost in the first semester," Economy Minister Nadia Calvino told an event in Madrid.

The INE is due to release fourth-quarter GDP data on Friday. (Reporting by Anita Kobylinska, Belen Carreno and Andrei Khalip)