PALMA/MADRID
THE Balearic Islands is the region of the country where unemployment grew the second least last year, Central Government confirmed yesterday after revealing that at the end of 2010, there were just 190 (0.21 percent) more jobless people than there were one year previously, .
The Ministry for Employment and Immigration also reported that figures registered last month in the Balearics showed that there were 761 less people without a job compared to November, bringing the year to a close with 91'288 out of work.
Only Catalonia had a lower rise (0.16%) in unemployment last year than the Balearics. The Islands also lay claim to being the region of the country where unemployment dropped by the third highest number of people in December (0.83%) in comparison with the previous month.
The fall in unemployment registered in the Balearic Islands in December was greater than the national average for the same period. Between November and December last year, 10'221 people nationwide managed to find work, meaning that unemployment decreased by 0.25 percent.
At the end of the year, there were 4'100'073 people in Spain registered as unemployed, 176'470 (4.5%) more than at the end of 2009.
In terms of the foreign labour market in the Balearics, there were 25'370 non Spanish nationals without a job at the close of last year. However, the figure is 2.9 percent less than a year ago and means that the Balearics is the only region of the country where unemployment amongst the foreign community fell during 2010.
The majority of the foreign unemployed figure consists of people who come from outside the European Community (16'034).
Looking at the total number of foreigners unemployed in the Balearics, 16'851 previously worked in the Services sector including Tourism; 6'153 in Construction; and 1'171 were registered as not having had any previous work at all.
Mari Luz Rodriguez, Secretary of State for Employment, said yesterday that the the ministry's findings were the best set of December employment figures for a decade. She hastened to add that there was no room for complacency considering there were still more than 4 million people out of work in Spain.