CEL values the drop in unemployment in Lanzarote in April, but warns that the Canary Islands "destroys" a lot of employment

The archipelago lost 16,800 jobs in the first quarter of 2022, despite the good unemployment data

May 18 2022 (08:25 WEST)
CEL Meeting

The Lanzarote Business Confederation (CEL) warns that the Canary Islands is one of the Autonomous Communities that loses the most employment in Spain, despite the good unemployment data for April.

Following the publication of the Active Population Survey (EPA) by the National Institute of Statistics, it was found that the archipelago lost 16,800 jobs in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the previous quarter.

The president of the CEL, Francisco Martínez, expressed his concern regarding these negative figures. "Despite the drop in unemployment, with the recent announcement that the Canary Islands is lowering the threshold of 200,000 unemployed, we are noticing that employment continues to be destroyed in the islands and that, in the first three months of the year, unemployment also increased above the national average," Martínez stressed.

In addition, he points out that the economy "is improving after the pandemic", since in year-on-year terms, the Canary Islands currently has about 14% fewer unemployed than a year ago and 15% more employees.

However, he warns that the archipelago "continues to have historical structural problems that do not allow us to maintain occupancy rates during certain times of the year, and this is reflected in very disparate data between one quarter and another", the president explained.

"From the Public Administrations, we must continue to bet on training in the workplace, on the digitization of the business sector and on quality employment, taking advantage of the Labor Reform to promote this type of employment and detecting the deficiencies that cause us to be a Community that, at the same time that it decreases unemployment rates, also decreases occupancy rates", Martínez stated.

Unemployment falls in Lanzarote in April

On the other hand, the president of the CEL has valued the positive employment data in Lanzarote during this last month, in which a decrease in unemployment of 4.7% has been recorded, compared to the previous month, and 48.7% in year-on-year terms.

"The success of the tourism sector during the last months, with good forecasts for the summer, is one of the main reasons why we continue in a positive trend", considers the president. "The image of Lanzarote as a safe destination has contributed to employment continuing to grow and being more stable for many people".

"There are 10,203 people who are unemployed in Lanzarote today, a large part of whom are women and people in vulnerable situations. For this reason, we insist on the importance of programs such as the 'Lanzarote Employability Plan 2021/2022', through which we seek to promote employability among unemployed people with difficult labor insertion on the Island", Martínez concluded.

Job Office
Unemployment falls to 10,203 people in April in Lanzarote, 511 fewer unemployed than in March
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