The president of the Lanzarote Business Confederation (CEL), Beatriz Salazar, once again appealed for "the necessary collaboration between administrations of the public and private sector to face the challenges posed by 2025."
Salazar highlighted important advances with respect to unemployment rates on the island, as the number of job seekers decreased by 656 people in 2024, which is 2.6% less than in November and 8.3% compared to December 2023.
However, she emphasized "intensifying the work between the social agents involved to overcome the most important economic challenges for Lanzarote, with the aim of decisively advancing in the strengthening of the island's productive fabric."
For Salazar, absenteeism and the reduction of working hours are two of the major issues that must be addressed in the coming months. "There is no doubt that absenteeism slows down the growth and productivity of SMEs on the island, with figures that, far from decreasing, place the Canary Islands as the third autonomous community with the highest rate of workers who are absent from their jobs," she said.
In this sense, she recalled the importance of tourism on the productive model in the islands. "It is not only our economic engine, but it also acts as a driving force by pulling the rest of the sectors, such as commerce, an activity that also generates a lot of employment." In this line, Beatriz Salazar recalled that, "precisely, the hotel sector is suffering a lot from this absenteeism, since it has gone from 6% before the pandemic to about 20% of absences from work."
"This situation worries us because it puts at risk the stability of companies and the creation of new jobs, something to which we add the difficulties in finding qualified personnel, so we must solve it by addressing the root of the problem," she said.
The reduction of working hours is another of the great challenges for the island, since in the words of the president of the CEL, "if we do not manage it well, many SMEs could be affected, since they are the ones with the greatest limitations when hiring more personnel to cover the necessary hours."
For Salazar, "the reduction of working hours must address the specificities of each of the sectors, so we cannot apply it generically."
Likewise, she also referred to the record of tourist figures that Lanzarote registered last year, with more than three million travelers between January and November. "These figures, which contribute to strengthening the island's economy, must entail a deep analysis of the current situation in relation to the sustainable development of the island, which requires a calm debate between the agents involved to move towards the island we want."
Finally, she alluded to the decrease in interest rates, which are expected to continue to fall throughout the year, as well as the stabilization of inflation, which is a relief for family economies, as well as for small and medium-sized companies. "This leads to reducing the cost of prices and variable mortgages, as well as the acquisition of housing, which protects the purchasing power of households," she concluded.
