Hope for recovery

By Maria-Jose Fernandez

THE latest unemployment figures bring hope that the worst of the recession may be over.

And the Balearics are leading the way as they showed a 10 per cent fall in the jobless rate in February compared to a year ago.

The decrease registered in the Balearic Islands is the second highest in the country, beaten only by Cantabria (8,399 fewer unemployed people).

It was the 28th consecutive month of falling unemployment. Month-on-month the jobless queues on the islands fell by 2,771, a 3.34 per cent decrease.

Taken with record tourism figures for 2014 and the start of this year, the signs are good for an upturn in the Mallorcan economy.

A total of 8,923 people found a job during the second month of the year, and the number of unemployed on the Balearic Islands currently stands at 80,295, according to data released by the Ministry of Employment and Social Security. Nationally, the number of registered unemployed fell by 13,538 during February, or just above 300,000 over a year to around 4.5 million.

“It was the largest year-on-year reduction in unemployment since 1999,” said a government statement.

Malaga was one of just three provinces in Andalucia where unemployment fell last month. The other two were Huelva, with 1,297 less jobless people, and Cadiz with 682.