Unemployment remains key worry in the Balearics

UNEMPLOYMENT is the main concern of people living in the Balearic Islands, followed by worries over corruption scandals and the economy, the Centre for Sociological Investigation (CIS) reported yesterday.

The results of research were published after interviews with 467 residents in the Islands. Asked to give just one reply over what they saw as the key problems for the region, 47 percent of those polled said that the dole queue remains their main worry, 11.6 percent said that corruption and fraud concerned them the most, whilst 10.3 percent said that the economy was the most troubling factor in Balearic life.

Just over 4 percent meanwhile, claimed that politicians were the cause of most of the region's problems.
Separately, interviewees were asked to give a list of three issues which were of major concern. In response, 69.4 percent said that unemployment was a top priority. As the second most worrying item, 36.4 percent cited the economic crisis and 29 percent said that immigration was third on their list.

In fourth place, corruption and fraud concerned more than a quarter of those interviewed; 11.6 percent singled out politicians and 7.1 percent said lack of citizen security was a factor eating into the quality of their lives.

Asked for their opinion about the current political situation in general, 60.8 percent said they believed it was either “bad” or “very bad”, 31.1 percent considered it to be “not so good” and only 6.6 percent polled by the CIS in the Islands, described it as “good.” When the same question was put to the interviewees about the political situation in the Balearic Islands, 56.9 percent described it as “bad” or “very bad,” 31.7 percent said it was “not so good” and only 8.8 percent believed it to be “good.” On the issue of corruption, 6 out of 10 people taking part in the survey (60.4%) thought that there were “more or less” the same number of scandals emerging in other regions of the country, in contrast to 31.5 percent who said they thought that there were more in the Balearics than elsewhere.

On the subject of the economy, 77.3 percent of people in the Islands said that the situation is either “bad” or “very bad” at the moment.