The total number of people officially registered as out of work in the Balearics stood at 38,866 at the end of May, the Ministry for Employment and Social Security announced yesterday. That figure represents and fall of 2,563 on May, some 6.16 percent fewer. Year-in-year the number of unemployed has contracted by 16.02 percent and these figure place the Balearics as the national leader of job creation at a monthly and annual rate.
Cautious
However, the union, while welcoming the figures, remains cautious and business federations called for more long term secure jobs. The vast majority of the new jobs created over the past few months are in the service and tourism sectors and are part time. With a slowly growing number of hotels staying open longer, this does give some employees some more peace of mind, for the seasonal workers, they know that come the end of October, or even before, they will be out of work again and many of these people are in the under 25 age group.
The number of people in Spain registering as jobless fell to its lowest level in eight years in June, official data showed yesterday, as an economic recovery consolidates after years of recession.
Employment Ministry data showed the figure fell by 2.84% in June from a month earlier, or by 98,317 people, leaving 3.36 million people out of work. Spain’s economy fell into a five-year downward spiral in 2008 after a burst property bubble hit economic activity, pushing the unemployment rate up to a high of 27%.
Labour Ministry figures showed Spain has clawed back 2.28 million of the jobs destroyed during the economic crisis, or about 68.2%.
The unemployment rate - calculated through a National Statistics Institute poll rather than the number of people registering as out of work - stood at 18.75% in the first quarter. The government expects that rate to drop to 11.1% by 2020. The number of people paying in to the social security system as workers rose 0.48%, or 87,692 people, to 18.43 million people, the ministry said. In seasonally adjusted terms, registered unemployed fell by 21,668 people in June from a month earlier. In a sector breakdown, services saw a 3.2% drop in unemployed, or 75,101 people, boosted by a strong hotel industry as the busy tourism season gears up for the summer.
Industry saw a 3.18% fall in registered unemployed while construction was down 3.09%. But registered unemployment rose in the agriculture sector by 4.49% due to a severe drought, the data showed.
Social security
The Social Security fund has seen a steady growth in new contributors for the last 43 consecutive months.
At the same time, June once again revealed the negative side of Spain’s decade-long economic crisis: there were more than two million temporary and reduced-hours contracts signed in June alone; of the total number of new hirings, just 7.9% were indefinite contracts. By the end of 2017, a record 20 million contracts will have been signed in one year.