Figures from the national ministry for social security show that 16.22% of all workers covered by the ERTE furlough scheme at the end of March were in the Balearics and the Canaries. Of a national total of 743,628 workers, there were 86,826 in the Canaries (11.68%) and 33,785 in the Balearics (4.54%).
These numbers are lower than they were in February - in the Canaries there were 89,559 (9.9% of the national total) and in the Balearics 38,649 (4.2%). Nationally, there were 899,383 workers on ERTE in February.
The Spanish government has drawn attention to the fact that there are greater concentrations of people on ERTE in parts of the country with high dependence on tourism, as is the case in both the Balearics and the Canaries.
Catalonia continues to be the region with the most workers on ERTE. The March figure was 157,873 (21.23% of the total), followed by Madrid with 109,501 and Andalusia with 98,242. By contrast, La Rioja, with 3,782 workers (0.51% of the total) had the lowest number.
The ministry says that the national total has remained more or less stable since September - between 750,000 and 900,000. The second and third waves of the pandemic have had far less impact in this regard than the first.