Alicante job figures improve on last year

UNEMPLOYMENT grew by 2,030 people in Alicante Province last month, compared with December.

This is not unusual once the Christmas rush and seasonal employment opportunities are over. Nevertheless, this increase in joblessness was 14 per cent lower than the difference between December 2013 and January 2014, according to Valencia’s official employment service Servef.

Despite the drop in employment, there were 14,819 fewer Alicantinos on Servef’s books on January 31 than there were a year ago. 

Only seven of the province’s 141 municipalities had more people without jobs than a year ago, and all are small and under-populated. In the similarly small towns of Guadalest, Almudaina and Balones, the number of unemployed remained unchanged.

Elche created more employment than any other municipality in the province, with 31,325 still out of work but 2,537 fewer than a year ago. Alicante City has reduced its number of jobless by 2,300, but Benidorm did less well.  It has barely created employment and the 7,587 registered as jobless are only 138 fewer than a year ago.