PALMA
THE current sense of optimism in the tourist industry about a good summer season was further supported yesterday when the Ministry for Employment and Immigration announced that the hostelry and service sectors are starting to absorb the high number of foreign workers being made redundant by the troubled construction business.
According to ministry reports, over 7'000 foreigners lost theirs jobs in the construction industry last month alone in Spain, but the hostelry sector took on 14'546 foreign workers, six percent more than during February and one of the biggest rises has been in the Balearics.
As the Bulletin reported yesterday, the number of foreign workers in employment and claiming social welfare rose by 6.8 percent last month and 5.9 per cent had found new jobs in the Balearic tourist industry.
However, not only is unemployment still running slightly higher than central government would like, the Spanish Minster for Employment and Immigration, Celestino Corbacho, warned yesterday that, over the coming months, it is highly likely that there will be more job cuts in the construction industry as the economy continues to slow down.
But the Government is confident that the tourist industry is going to help compensate significantly while Corbacho urged local authorities and local administration to start planning ahead and devising retraining and relocation projects for workers made redundant.
He also pointed out that it is going to be immigrants workers who will continue to be the main victim of the downturn in the construction sector.
At the end of last month, there were a total of 76'251 non-Spanish nationals claiming welfare in the Balearics.
Of these, 32'068 are from European Union member-states while the remaining 44'183 are from non-European Union.
The Romanian community is one of the fastest growing in the Balearics.
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