The unemployment rate in the tourism sector in the last quarter of 2021 stood at 10.1%, two percentage points below pre-pandemic levels, according to data released today by Turespaña, based on the Labour Force Survey (EPA). In addition, affiliation in the branches of activity linked to tourism continued to grow in January for the eighth consecutive month, with 232,614 more workers than a year ago.
"In a context of uncertainty for the tourism sector such as the one caused by the Omicron variant, the data shows that both the protective shield deployed by the Government to protect companies and workers and the health management of the pandemic have allowed us to maintain and also generate new jobs in a key sector of our economy. Furthermore, the Government of Spain is already immersed in a strategy to transform and modernise our tourism model, to which we are giving renewed impetus with the help of the European recovery funds, which will strengthen Spain's position as an international tourism leader", said the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto.
EPA data
The number of employed workers linked to tourism activities reached 2,458,824 people in the last quarter of the year, which means a year-on-year increase of 12.2% and 266,629 more employees than in the same quarter of the previous year, according to data from the Labour Force Survey (EPA).
The percentage of unemployed people out of the total number of active workers was 10.1% compared to 12.1% in the same quarter of 2019, a record year in terms of international visitor arrivals. At the end of last year, both employees in the tourism sector (13.4%) and the self-employed (8.3%) grew. In the economy as a whole, employment grew by 841,000 workers, of which 31.7% were in tourism-related activities.
Affiliation Data
In January 2022, the trend of a year-on-year increase in the number of affiliates that started last June continued. The number of employees registered with the Social Security reached 2,239,014 and grew by 11.6% compared to the same month in 2021. They account for 11.5% of the total number of affiliates in the national economy.
By branch of activity, there was an increase of 171,408 in the hotel and catering sector (145,030 in food and beverage services and 26,378 in accommodation services). The group of other tourism activities (which includes branches such as transport, car rental or creative, artistic and entertainment activities, among others) grew by 61,486 new registrations, while in travel agencies there was a decrease of 280 workers.
In January, employment in the hotel and catering and travel agency sector as a whole increased in all Autonomous Communities. In absolute figures, the largest increases were in Andalusia, the Valencian Community, Catalonia, the Community of Madrid and the Canary Islands. In relative terms, the year-on-year increases in Murcia (21.3%) and Andalusia (19.4%) stand out.
Non official translation
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