Unemployment in the Canary Islands drops to the lowest level for 15 years

The latest results of the Active Population Survey (EPA) confirm the surprising recovery of the islands economy thanks to factors that, in reality, have little to do with luck and much with the effectiveness of the labour reform carried out by the Government of Spain, and the continued commitment to the Islands as a tourist destination, despite international instability.

The date shows the Canary Islands are leading the fight against unemployment compared to the rest of Spain, a scourge that has condemned the country to levels of misery and poverty that haven’t been seen for decades.

The succession of unexpected disasters has been particularly cruel to the Archipelago, which started with the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook in 2019, a key tour operator for an industry that accounts for at least a third of the GDP of the Islands, followed by the worst calima for 30 years, then the Covid pandemic which led to zero tourism, a volcanic eruption in La Palma, Brexit, which has affected Brits working in the islands and ‘swallows’ visiting them for longer than 90 days, and now the Ukraine war and cost of living crisis.

Due to this, it seems like a miracle that unemployment levels in the Canary Islands are once again at 14.5%, a percentage that has not been registered since 2007 just before the real estate crisis triggered unemployment to levels above 20%.

To put it in perspective, in the first quarter of 2021 it was 25.4% according to the EPA and in some areas touched 30%, so has dropped by more than 10% in just two years, a remarkable feat.

The spokesman for the Canary Islands government, Julio Pérez, said that given the evidence of this data, the fact that the Islands are leading the economic recovery regarding unemployment in a country like Spain is because Pedro Sánchez was the undisputed star given the magnificent results of this country compared to others in the same environment.