JOB GLOOM

THIS week the leader of the Balearic government, Francesc Antich, underlined the fact that the Balearic economy is on course to emerge from recession. What he forgot to mention is that there are now 75'000 people without a job and this figure will rise substantially at the end of this month when the majority of hotels close.

The 75'000 are registered as unemployed, in other words people who have worked who can claim benefit. What the figures don´t show is that there are literally thousands of people who are out of work and who are unable to claim any sort of benefit. The other day I was told that some hotels in the Calvia area had closed in early August, meaning that their staff can only claim a fraction of unemployment benefit. Under the Spanish system, you work six months and get six months benefit. However, there will be some hotel workers who have only worked three months and therefore they are only entitled to three months benefit. This is a nightmare scanerio for many people, no job and no benefit.

This year there are going to be thousands of people in this position but Balearic President Antich says that all is well and that the recession is over. No, the Balearic economy is not back to normal and it is going to take years to recover.