Services and construction drive employment, according to El Momentum Económico de las Illes Balears (The Economic Momentum of the Balearic Islands) for February
The Balearic Islands was the autonomous community that recorded the highest GDP growth in 2023, with 5.7%, much higher than the national figure of 2.6%.
The labour market remains buoyant and set record highs in January, driven by services and construction. In January, there were 15,421 more registered workers than in the previous year, with a clear predominance of the services sector, with 88%. Thus, the number of registered workers in January 2025 is 468,388 (+3.4%), according to El Moment Economíc de les Illes Balears in February, prepared by the Directorate General of Economy and Statistics.
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The labour market maintains its high point and sets record highs in January
On the other hand, the Balearic Islands was the autonomous community that recorded the greatest GDP growth in 2023 in terms of volume (5.7%), according to the latest data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE), as reported in El Momento Económico. The variation is notably larger than that experienced in Spain as a whole, where it rose by 2.6 %.
Services, on the other hand, ended 2024 with strong sales growth (8.2 %). Thus, in December, all activities increased sales, especially hotels and restaurants (14.4%) and professional activities (12.4%). Turnover in 2024 increased by 7 % compared to that experienced in 2023, while in Spain it grew by 3 %.
In addition, the Balearic Islands closed 2024 with the highest total tourist expenditure in the historical series: 22,380.6 million euros (+12.2% year-on-year). The growth in value is certified by the record daily expenditure of the last ten years, with 1,195 euros of expenditure per person (7% more) and 187 euros per person per day (7.5% more than last year). Thus, the forecasts for 2024 are confirmed by the year-end statistics, which follow the dynamic trend of 2023.
The improvement is also reflected in tourist arrivals, as last December is the first month in which visitor arrivals exceeded those of 2018, before the outbreak of the COVID pandemic (+4.9%).
In terms of housing, residential construction is active and the last months of the year saw an increase in housing completion certificates. In November, 225 housing completion certificates were issued, almost all by private developers, a year-on-year increase of 25.7%.
On the other hand, the energy component boosted the industrial production index, which closed the year with a timid rise of 0.5%, far from that seen in Spain (4.7%). Intermediate goods and consumer durables also showed positive values, although the year closed with a fall of 4.4%.
Finally, inflation remained high in the Balearic Islands in January (+3.4%), above the Spanish rate (+2.9%) and only below that of the Basque Country (+3.5%). Underlying inflation takes a slight breather, dropping 4 tenths of a percentage point.