The Marina Alta closes 2022 with the lowest unemployment figure on record

Thursday 19th January 2023
Mike Smith

The CREAMA Marina Alta Observatory has announced that the Marina Alta region closed 2022 with 9,435 unemployed, the lowest number for the month of December on record, falling below the 10,000 level for the first time. Compared to December 2021, the number of unemployed in the region was lower by more than 1,800 people.

The figure marks two consecutive years of drops in unemployment. In 2021, there was a record drop in the number of unemployed – 2,646 – compared to 2020, very much due to the end of the restrictions associated with the pandemic.

The actual number of unemployed in the Marina Alta increased in December by 54 compared to the previous month, an increase of 0.58% which the number of unemployed men (3,935) much lower than women (5,500).

With regards to the number of affiliates to the Social Security, the month of December marked the four consecutive month that the number of contributors to the system has fallen in the region, although in December, the number decreased by just 28 to 59,206 affiliated people, a fall of just 0.05% with respect to November 2022. By activity, all sectors experienced a modest decrease, except for the Special Sea Sector which rose by 2.67% in December, an increase of 36 people.

Comparing the number of job seekers for December 2022 with the same month in 2021, the year-on-year variation continues to be positive as the figure has fallen by 1,822 people.

By sector, registered unemployment fell only in Agriculture (-4.35%) whilst the Services sector rose to 7,255 people seeking work. In Construction, the number of unemployed rose by just over 2% to 1,106 people whilst Industry remains very much the same with just one person more seeking a job in the sector.

In terms of contracts, although there were 618 fewer signed during December compared to the previous month, a drop of 22.66%, almost 6 out of 10 of them were permanent and the trend of these type of contracts being offered in place of temporary ones continues.

Of the 2,109 contracts signed during December, 57.94% were permanent and thus, a year after the new labour reforms, the economic crisis can be faced with more protection for employees, a modernization of the employment sector, and combating the precariousness of temporary employment.

The number of permanent contracts signed during December – 1,222 – are four times the average of the month prior to the labour reforms whilst 876 temporary contracts were signed, a continued decrease resulting in permanent contracts outnumbering temporary ones.