Unemployment drops in the Balearic Islands: data from March 2024

The Balearic Islands are once again leading the decline in unemployment in Spain, according to data presented by the Spanish government. During the month of March, the islands registered a total of 29,662 unemployed people, a figure 12% lower than in March 2023. In other words, 4,069 fewer unemployed. This rate is almost three times the average fall in unemployment in the rest of Spain, which stands at 4.7%. By islands, Mallorca is placed, with 11.8%, behind Formentera (21%) and Eivissa (15.1%), and ahead of Menorca (10.1%).

Compared with the previous February, unemployment in the Balearic Islands also fell. In this case by a total of 1,081 people, which is 3.5% in relative terms. Meanwhile, in Spain as a whole, the same data show a considerably smaller fall, of only 1.2%. This decline occurred on all the islands, with Mallorca in third place with 3.6%. Ibiza, meanwhile, recorded a 5.1% drop, Menorca a 3.8% drop, and Formentera a 1.0% drop.

Employment creation

The Balearic Islands also led the way in job creation during the month of March, when 514,171 new registrations were recorded. This represents an increase of 4.2% over the same period in 2023, i.e. a total of 20,712 new registrations. However, the whole of Spain shows an average increase over the previous year of 2.6%, half that of the islands.

On the other hand, a comparison of the March data with those of the previous month shows an increase of 33,322 new registrations in the Balearic Islands, i.e. a month-on-month rise of 6.9%. In Spain as a whole, the increase in enrolment compared with February was 0.9%.

The conseller de Empresa, Empleo y Energía, Alejandro Sáenz de San Pedro, described these data as “historic”, pointing out that “this is the best quarter in recent years in terms of enrolment and unemployment, and we can say that we are close to full employment”.

For his part, the president of the PIMEM Federation, Jordi Mora, says that he had already predicted that the figures would be positive at the end of March “because companies are reactivated with Easter. We were aware that this year they were bringing forward calls for tenders and recruitments for fear of not being able to fill the workforce, as has been the case”.

Other data

Hiring

In the month of March, 29,624 new contracts were registered in the Balearic Islands, 4,943 more than in the previous month, which implies an increase of 20%.

Self-employed

The self-employed regime in the Balearic Islands has 98,621 affiliated persons, a figure that represents 19.2% of total registered employment. The number of people who have chosen this type of affiliation increased by 2,583 since March 2023, 2.7% more, and by 1,695 compared to February 2024, 1.8% less.