Balearics leads drop in unemployment

And, compared to June, the number of unemployed was 1'380 or 1.95 percent less as the tourist season finally appears to be having a positive affect on the work place.

But, while 1'707 people found a job in the service sector, this is where the unemployment rate continues to be the highest with 46'920 jobs having been lost in the service sector suggesting that, despite all the forecasts of this year apparently being another record season, the service sector has decided to play it safe.

Last month, 82 people managed to secure their first job, while 19 new jobs were created in the industrial sector, three in agriculture while 43 more people lost their jobs in the crippled construction sector.

Union concerns
The figures were welcomed by the Balearic government which claimed that the region was back on track and that it will be the first to emerge from the recession in Spain.

However, the unions are not convinced.
The two main concerns are that these jobs are only short term seasonal contracts and also that an increasing number of people are either signing off at the job centre and opting to work on the black market or are no longer entitled to any state aid so have decided to help themselves.

Other factors which have to be taken into account is the rising number of young people who are leaving the country in search of work in countries like the United Kingdom or Germany, in particular, and the fact that many South American immigrants have returned home.

At a national level, the number of registered jobless fell in July from a month earlier, the fifth straight month of declines, the Labour Ministry said yesterday, boosted by seasonal factors including a strong tourist season.

Jobless numbers fell by 1.4 percent in July, or by 64'866 people, leaving 4.7 million people out of work, the data showed.
Then following a quarterly survey by the National Statistics Institute which reported an unemployment rate of 26.3 percent in the second quarter with 6 million people unable to find work.

Two years out of work “In annual terms, employment continues to be destroyed and unemployment continues to be generated, but less than before and this points to a change in trend. “It suggests that the unemployment rate could be similar in the third quarter as the second,” said Estefania Ponte, economy and strategy director at Cortal Consors.

Registered jobless numbers rose 2.4 percent in July from a year earlier, the ministry figures showed.
Spanish unemployment has soared to record levels since the property bubble burst in 2008 and is expected to remain high for years to come as the battered economy, in recession since the end of 2011, struggles to return to sustainable growth.

The Labour Ministry tends registered jobless figures tend to be lower than the statistics institute's estimates as the disillusioned long-term unemployed, who's benefits end after two years, stop signing on.

According to the statistics institute, some 1.9 million people who had previously held a job had been out of work for more than two years in the second quarter.

The number of people registering as out of work in July fell in all the main economic sectors, with the largest drop seen in the services industry, down 37'614 people, or 1.3 percent, boosted by a strong tourism season.

Spain's tourist sector, worth over 10 percent of economic output, has seen a boost this year as holiday makers avoid trouble spots in usually popular destinations in Northern Africa such as Egypt
Unemployed from construction dropped 17'310 people and was down 11'233 people from industry, the ministry said.