Two in three shops have reduced staff

PALMA
NEARLY 65 percent of commercial outlets in the Balearics have laid members of staff off this year while the remaining 30 percent are considering reducing the size of their workforce in the future.

According to the findings of the latest survey carried out by the Balearic Federation of Commercial Businesses, confidence on the high street is very low and very few retailers believe that the economic situation is going to improve in the short term.

Federation President, Bartomeu Servera, said yesterday that the situation is “extremely negative and the only positive factors is that there appears to have been a pick up in trade in the latter part of the tourist season.” However, he admitted that the results of the survey are “alarming” and most of his federation's members do not think that high street trade is going to improve until the middle or end of 2012.

Retailers are hoping that there will be some festive consumer joy on the high streets over the coming months and that the winter sales, which start early in January, will also bring some cheer to traders.