The number of businesses in the Balearics is encouraging, but the proportion of larger businesses is comparatively low. | Archive

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At the start of 2017, there were 93,067 active companies in the Balearics. This was the highest number since 2008: just below the 93,335 in that year.

Between 2008 and 2014, there was an annual decline. The number was 84,270 in 2014. The following year, there was an increase of almost 3,000. Economic crisis was passing, and the recovery has led to the current figure.

The Balearic Confederation of Business Associations (CAEB) says that this is a sign of renewed business dynamism and that the growth is continuing. Over the first half of 2017, there has been an increase of almost three per cent. The confederation's president, Carmen Planas, stresses the importance of this growth for employment.

The Balearics is the only region in Spain to have recuperated the number of jobs that disappeared during the crisis years. In June and July, there were record numbers of employees signed on with social security. Only two regions - the Balearics and Madrid - have registers of active companies that are more or less as they were pre-crisis. In Spain as a whole, there are currently four per cent fewer businesses than in 2008. The percentage difference in the Balearics is 0.3%.

Most of the Balearic companies - over 73,000 - are in the services sector. Of these, some 16,500 are engaged in retailing. But the good numbers reveal only so much. More than 70,000 companies have a maximum of only two salaried employees. A further 16,000 have between three and 49 people on the payroll.