December unemployment in the Balearics fell compared with November

Some 14,000 new job contracts

People at an employment office in Palma, Mallorca

Hiring in December was mostly for temporary work. | Jaume Morey

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma05/01/2021 14:13

In December, there were 84,339 unemployed in the Balearics. This figure was 991 lower than in November, but by comparison with December 2019 it was 23,218 higher. The figures, it might be noted, don't include workers on ERTE terms, as they are not classified as being unemployed.

There were only two regions of Spain where unemployment was down compared with November; the Basque Country was the other.

By sector, there were 64,443 unemployed in services, 1.67% fewer than in November. For construction there were 9,839 unemployed, for industry 3,445, and for agriculture 1,140. The remaining 5,472 were without previous employment.

As for hiring, there were 14,141 job contracts in December - 11,956 temporary and 2,185 permanent. These were 3,835 fewer than in November. By comparison with December 2019 the decrease was 42.2% (10,329 fewer contracts). For the whole of 2020, there were 251,170 job contracts, of which 45,705 were for permanent posts.