Xàbia closes 2021 with unemployment levels similar to 2019
SEPE recorded some 1,488 unemployed, at the end of 2021, considerably than 2020 and just 7 less than 2019.
Friday 14th January 2022 – ÁLVARO MONFORT with Mike Smith
Xàbia closed the year 2021 with 1,488 unemployed, 140 less than in November 2021, according to the State Public Employment Service (SEPE). It is not a bad figure when compared with the trend that had been occurring in the previous months in which the decline had slowed down. Unlike the 43 unemployed that occurred between October and November, the arrival of the last month of the year has led to a slightly more considerable drop.
The figure for December shows a certain recovery compared to last year. In 2020, after the setback that confinement and successive restrictions meant for the economy in order to contain the advance of the pandemic (the Community Valenciana was one of the strictest just a year ago), the municipality ended up with 1,948 unemployed.
And if you go back to 2019, before COVID-19 was a topic of every day conversation and conditioned almost any aspect of daily life, the data is much more similar. In December two years ago, Xàbia finished the year with 1,495, 7 more than this year.
Does this mean that the local economy has recovered? Of course, it has been stabilizing. However, the months with the greatest drop in employment in the town are always the first of the year as the low season enters fully and without having holiday periods in between that oxygenate the labour market. In the summer periods, Xàbia will always experience economic growth, but it is in the winter months when this dynamism completely declines, not just because many establishments and companies take a well-deserved vacation, but also because there is not the volume of work that requires a greater staffing level. Just a year ago, the municipality surpassed the barrier of 2,000 unemployed between the months of January and February.
Going back to December 2021, the sector with the highest unemployment rate was the Services sector with 1,171 unemployed people. This was followed by Construction with 182, then Industry with 41 and Agriculture and Fisheries with 15.
By gender and age, women are once again the most affected by the lack of employment. A total of 848 women and 640 men were registered on the SEPE lists and, in both cases, the age group of those over 45 was the most affected. Logically, the State Public Employment Service only takes into account those people formally registered with it and not people who work without a contract.
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