An extra 60,300 people went back to work in the second quarter of 2021, which is an increase of 12% compared to Q1, according to the National Institute of Statistics.
At the end of the second quarter, 562,300 people were employed in the Balearic Islands, up 50,100 from the same quarter of 2020.
Nationwide, the number of people employed increased by 464,900 in Q2, to 19,671,700 workers, thanks to the relaxation of the Covid restrictions and the vaccination programme. According to the Labor Force Survey, which was published by the INE on Thursday, the number of unemployed decreased by 110,100 people to 3,543,800.
The Ministry of Economy pointed out that it’s the second largest increase in a second quarter, taking the labour market to a level of employment similar to the first quarter of 2020.
Year-on-year, employment has grown by 1,064,400 compared to the second quarter of 2020, when the Covid pandemic put 175,900 people out of work. More than 1.5 million of the 19.7 million employees in the labour market were absent from their jobs during Q2, which is 470,000 fewer than Q1.
This decrease was due to the fact that in the second quarter fewer people took holidays, sick leave or were furloughed, so the number of hours worked increased by 7.73% compared to the previous quarter. The number of people who teleworked more than half of the days decreased, from 11.2% to 9.4 %.
During the second quarter 223,500 more men and 241,400 more women were in employment and 331,200 nationals and 133,700 foreigners were working. There was an increase in the number of employed in all age groups, especially in the 20-24 age group where 79,600 were back at work.
The increase in employment was highest in the Services Sector with 365,700 back to work, followed by Construction with 63,100, Industry with 23,000 and Agriculture with 13,100.
Employment increased by 42,100 people in the Public Sector with 3.4 million public employees and by 422,700 in the Private Sector, with 71,800 more self-employed and 403,200 salaried workers.
Amongst the latter, the increase in employment was 305,000 more temporary workers and 98,100 permanent workers, raising the temporary employment rate by 1.27 points to 25.06%.
Full-time employment rose by 325,600 people and part-time by 139,300, which increased the part-time rate to 14.41%.
Unemployment decreased by 60,700 amongst men and 49,400 amongst women; by age it increased amongst the under 25s and over 55s.
The reduction in unemployment was highest in the Services Sector with 306,200 fewer employees, followed by Industry with 43,300, Construction with 35,500 and Agriculture with 21,900, with growth of 240,000 amongst the long-term unemployed and 56,900 amongst those looking for their first job.
By regions, employment increased most in Andalusia with 102,400, the Balearic Islands with 60,300 and the Valencian Community with 55,100.
The biggest drops in unemployment occurred in Murcia with 22,200, Catalonia with 21,200 and Andalusia with 19,800 and unemployment increased the most in the Valencian Community where an extra 15,600 people were out of work.