5´400 Britons working in Balearics

PALMA
THE number of foreigners working legally in the Balearics now stands at 87'328, according to official figures released yesterday. This represents an increase of 8.5 percent compared to October 2007.

By sectors, construction was the one which employed the most new foreign workers in October, with 3'050, followed by catering, with 2'960.
With regard to their countries of origin, 32'777 were citizens of the European Union and 43'838 from outside the EU.
Among those who were from EU countries, the Germans were the most numerous nationality, with 9'169, followed by the British, with 5'390 and the Italians with 4'822.

Among the countries outside the EU, Ecuadorians led the field with 8'545 people, followed by the Moroccans with 7'439, and the Colombians with 5'141.
Throughout Spain the number of new foreign workers employed in October fell to 15'416, a decrease of 0.75 percent in comparison to September.
This brought the total of foreign workers to 2'021'166.
In October there were 20'311 less foreign workers from outside the EU, while there was an increase of 4'895 from within the EU.
Of the total of foreign workers counted at the end of October, 680'400 were citizens of the EU and 1'340'766 were from outside the EU.
The number of foreign workers from the EU has risen by 91.7 percent during the last year, a figure which shot up in January with the incorporation of Bulgaria and Rumania into the EU.

Foreign workers from outside the EU have continued the downward trend which started at the beginning of the year, and their numbers have dropped by 11.2 percent over the course of the last year.