Help me out here, I’m having a problem understanding the latest unemployment figures for Spain.
The country’s jobless rate, at 9.93% last quarter, is the lowest since the 2008 financial crisis that hit Spain particularly hard, but remains among the highest in the European Union and youth unemployment still remains high.
And here is the rub - immigration was apparently a factor in plugging holes in key sectors for job creation. But not only has one to wonder where this leaves young people, it also begs the question why have many Mallorcan businesses been complaining about a staff shortage all summer?
With regard to young people, and I think it is the same situation across western Europe, I get the impression very few like the idea of hard work, especially in Mallorca, where life is rather comfortable for many thanks to decades of tourism.
Furthermore, the vast majority of my friends whose children are aged between 22 and 30 are either already working overseas or are planing to make the move - so Spain is suffering a brain drain.
Therefore, it may be worth the powers that be looking a little deeper into the unemployment figures and who is filling the vacancies. For example, there are a similar number of Spaniards working in the UK as there are Britons retired in Spain.