President Armengol said on Wednesday that this April was the best ever for employment. The latest employment figures indicate that 518,282 people were signed on for work with social security - 20% more than in April 2021 and the highest ever for an April. A 7.5% unemployment rate was the lowest since April 2007 and the third lowest ever. There were 41,915 unemployed, 48% lower than in April 2021 and 6.9% lower than in April 2019, i.e. before the pandemic.
The president added that these "historic figures" make the Balearic Islands the undisputed leader in job creation in Spain. The "negative cycle" of the pandemic has been broken.
The 20% increase in employment was well above the national average of five per cent, while the region with the second highest percentage rise was the Canary Islands with 8.5%. "The economic recovery is solid. We are not going back to the 2019 scenario, but to a better scenario."
Armengol was referring in particular to employment contracts. Labour reform, she observed, "has had a special impact" in the Balearics - eight out of ten contracts in April were permanent. An 80% rate was above the national average of 48%. Iago Negueruela, the employment minister as well as the tourism minister, congratulated businesses on this "quality of employment".
A year ago, only 20% of contracts were indefinite. The pandemic may have been a factor in temporary employment, but it only confirmed an established pattern. In April 2019, ahead of what was a very good tourism season, 55,747 employment contracts were issued. Of these, 45,631 were temporary - 82%.