Balearics headed December fall in Spain's unemployment

Most unemployment in the Balearics is in services. | Gemma Andreu

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma04/01/2022 10:30

In December, there were 55,974 unemployed in the Balearics, 28,365 fewer than in December 2020 - a fall of 33.63% - and 3.01% lower than in November. In relative terms, the year-on-year decrease was the greatest in the country, followed by Aragon and Catalonia, both 25.8%.

The latest unemployment figures indicate that the majority of people out of work were in the services sector - 43,910. In construction there were 6,306. There were 31,180 women out of work, and 5,349 of all unemployed people were under 25. In December, 21,694 employment contracts were signed, an increase of 53.4% compared with December 2020 but 27.8% lower than in November.

Nationally, there were 3,105,905 unemployed at the end of 2021. This number was down 782,232 from the previous December. A fall of 20.12%, it was the largest year-on-year decrease since current records began. On average in December, 19,824,911 people were in work, 776,478 more than at the end of 2020, marking the highest job creation in a year since 2005.

Unemployment has dropped for ten consecutive months, the longest period in the historical series, with a cumulative fall of 902,884 people. Over eight consecutive months of increases, there were 822,802 more employed between May and December. The fall in unemployment was led by the services sector (532,670 fewer unemployed), followed by those who had not worked previously (95,916).

Over the course of 2021, employment growth in relative terms was highest in the Canaries (6.43%), followed by the Balearics (5.52%) and Madrid (4.97%).