Palma.Unemployment, which hit a record high at the end of last year of over 100'000, has been steadily dropping over the past eight months but the figures released for August yesterday came as a bit of a shock.
Albeit it minimal, the latest data shows that the number of people out of work in the Balearics has started to rise again and it has been a similar situation across the country. Compared to July, the number of people out of work, rose by 0.54 percent in August.
The figures may appear negligible but what has set alarm bells ringing is the turn around in the job market.
Summer season
An increase in the number of jobless was expected come the end of the summer holiday season with seasonal contracts cancelled, but the so-called boom season was forecast to continue well into September, if not October and possibly beyond into the winter season.
Based on yesterday's figures, that does not appear to be the case and , as has become the norm over the past three summer seasons, the tourist industry is already beginning to shut up shop with the school holidays in Spain and the UK coming to a close within the next two weeks.
The total number of registered unemployed in the Balearics stood at 71'365 at the end of last month but, as unions have been warning, the reality is much worse.
They claim that, if the active population figures are taken into account, the number of people still trying to find a job remains nearer the 100'000 mark with many having signed off from the job centres in an attempt to try and make a living via other avenues.
At a national level, unemployment rose by more than 51'000 in August to reach 4.13m, the ministry of labour and immigration said yesterday, underlining the challenge facing the country's economy as policymakers struggle to avert another recession.
Spanish unemployment exceeds 20 per cent of the workforce, the worst figure by far among the large economies of the European Union, and joblessness among those under 25 is twice as high.
Brave face
Mari Luz Rodríguez, secretary of state for employment, tried to put a brave face on the increased number, noting that the figure had risen every August for the past 11 years.
The numbers are not seasonally adjusted.
Registered unemployment tends to fall in the early summer as the tourist industry hires temporary workers, and had declined in the previous four months.
Nevertheless, the government will be disappointed that the buoyant state of international tourism in Spain, which has benefited from turmoil in the Middle East such as Egypt and Tunisia, did not translate into more jobs.
Most of the increased unemployment was in the services sector.
Rodríguez said unemployment rose by 161'000 or 4 per cent year on year.