Bittersweet feelings. This is the latest data on the province of Alicante from the Active Population Survey (EPA). Although it documented the end of the year as the most employed in history, with a total of 848,000 people, it is also true that the pace of job creation has slowed, with 16,500 new workers compared to 75,000 the previous year.. In an economic situation increasingly complicated by the effects of inflation and international uncertainty created by war conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, a loss of dynamism was evident in the last quarter, which saw 21,500 job losses. In the balance of the year, Since there were significant declines in both industry and agriculture, services and construction were the sectors that increased employment.
Following the strong recovery in employment since the pandemic, the balance of 2023 shows a return to the usual dynamics before the health crisis, as employment increases continue. And this The last quarter saw another job loss in the province of Alicante, which coincided with the end of the summer tourism campaign. This trend was also noted throughout Spain, with a reduction of 19,000 workers, bringing the total number of employees to 21 million, but was more pronounced in Alicante, as in most provinces. Tourism sector.
Despite this, the sector that created the most employment in the annual balance was the services sector, which includes all tourism-related activities. In fact, the year ended with 642,400 employees; That’s 23,500 more than in 2023, but yes, after a decline of 17,100 in the last quarter. Continuing the dynamism shown by this sector, construction also increased by 5,800 workers compared to 2022, reaching 73,900 people.It increased by 200 people in the last period of the year.
On the other side is industry, a sector affected by the decline in consumption recorded internationally in recent months. As a result of inflation and market uncertainty. Thus, it closed the year with 114,300 employees; This means 16,800 fewer people than last year and 5,200 fewer than the previous quarter. In agriculture, which was affected by bad campaigns in most crops, the number of workers reached 18,200 after a decrease of 4,000. A total of 700 corresponded to the last three months of the year.
As for the unemployed, the state ends 2023 with a total of 130,000 people, down from 149,300 a year ago. Of course, after experiencing an increase of 17,400 compared to the previous quarter. With all this, the unemployment rate remains at 12.28%, almost three points lower than a year ago.