Employment boost
Unemployment figures drop in Valencia region and Alicante province
THE VALENCIA region and Alicante province in particular kept pace with national statistics for 2018 with an overall fall in unemployment by the end of the year.
Figures released this week by national statistics institute INE show the lowest unemployment rate in Spain for a decade (see report on page 21).
Breaking down the figures per region and province, unemployment has dropped to 14.3% of the job-seeking population in the region having peaked at 28.6% in 2013.
As in the case of national figures, the current unemployment ratio had been higher for a decade.
The lowest regional unemployment rate this century was in 2006 when it dropped to 8.5%.
There are currently 344,100 jobseekers registered in the Valencia region and 7.48% of households have all their members unemployed.
Alicante province saw 3,300 more people employed at the beginning of 2019 than at the start of 2018 and there are currently 745,700 people employed in the province and 138,100 seeking jobs.
Despite this boost, unemployment in Alicante stands above the national and regional average at 15.63% of the job-seeking population.
The service sector still accounts for the majority of jobs in the province (542,500), followed by industry (116,100) and construction (52,500), while 34,500 people are employed in the agricultural sector.