Unemployment
Malaga jobless figures have dropped below the 200,000 figure for the first time this year
09.07.12 - 14:08 -
The beginning of the tourist season has had a very positive effect on unemployment in Malaga province. The month of June ended with 197,096 people registered as being out of work, which was 6,752 fewer than at the end of May. In terms of reduction of unemployment, Malaga province registered the third greatest drop in the country after Madrid and Barcelona and the figure has dropped below the pyschological barrier of 200,000 jobless for the first time this year.
June was the third consecutive month when unemployment dropped, although this is usual for the labour market of a province whose principal industry is tourism. Since April, 11,302 people have found work although this has not made up for the loss of jobs since last autumn. At present, Malaga still has 20,478 more unemployed than a year ago.
Services
Unemployment dropped in all sectors in June, but especially in services, the sector which has the closest links to tourism: In that sector, unemployment dropped by 3,343. The sector of those who have never worked dropped by 1,526, and there was a surprising drop of 1,473 in construction. There are now 364 fewer unemployed in industry now and 46 fewer in agriculture.
By gender, unemployment dropped most among men (4,022) than women (2,730). At present, the number of men and women who are without work is almost equal in Malaga province, 98,362 and 98,734 respectively.
Causes
The fact that unemployment dropped more last month than in June 2011 could be because the tourism sector didn’t issue as many contracts as usual in April and May because of the doubts about the prospects for the summer. Those contracts may have been issued in June instead, when things began to look up.
However, the regional director of Adecco, Raúl Cortés, does believe that this summer is generating about 15 per cent more employment than last summer. He also points out that this growth is not just generated by hotels but also by “other types of business, such as the food industry, airlines, telemarketing companies, big retail chains and distribution”.
Are the figures for June purely seasonal or is there cause for hope? Unions come down firmly on the side of the former and point out that although 12,576 more jobs have been created than last year, two thousand fewer permanent contracts have been issued. The business sector is more optimistic, saying that unemployment has fallen for three consecutive months and the forecast for the summer is good which is positive news, particularly for small and medium businesses, the self-employed and families in Malaga.
98,853 fewer unemployed in the country as a whole and the largest reduction was in Andalucía
Unemployment in Spain dropped by 98,853 in June, a fall of 2.1 per cent and the greatest reduction in that month since 1996. There are 4,615,269 people unemployed in the country at present, 493,468 more than in June 2011.
This is welcome news, but caution is needed when evaluating the figures because unemployment does usually drop in the summer due to the issuing of temporary contracts and experts believe things could get worse in the autumn if the economic situation does not improve.
Andalucía
However, there was a reduction in unemployment in all regions of Spain in June and Andalucía showed the greatest drop, with 18,079 fewer unemployed than at the end of May.
Despite the positive figures last month, there are still more than one million unemployed people in Andalucía (1,025,635) and the number has increased by 12.7 per cent in the past year. The greatest reductions in June were in Malaga, Cadiz, Granada, Jaén, Almería, Huelva and Seville, in that order.
