According to the data corresponding to the Survey of Active Population released today by Turespaña, under the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, in the fourth quarter of 2019 the figure of 2,677,371 employed linked to tourism activities was reached, representing 93,850 employees more than in the same period of the previous year and an interannual growth of 3.6%.
Those employed in the tourism sector accounted for 13.4% of the total employment of the Spanish economy, while the unemployment rate stood at 12.1%, lower than 13.8% of the national average, indicating the better employability prospects in the Spanish tourism sector.
The Secretary of State for Tourism, Isabel Oliver, positively appreciates that “month by month tourism is consolidated as the main driver of job creation, and that this is increasingly high quality, as indicated by the increase in indefinite contracts and full-time days; from the Government we will continue working on this path to achieve greater job stability, better conditions, safety and training. ”
Especially noteworthy in this quarter is the improvement in the quality of tourism employment, with an increase in indefinite hiring of 10.2% – 68% of total contracts – while employees who work with a temporary contract decreased (-3 ,one%).
In relation to the type of working day, full-time employees increased by 5.2% and represent 73.5% of the total, compared to part-time employees, which grew by 6.4%.
By Autonomous Communities
The Autonomous Communities with the highest number of tourist flows (Catalonia, Andalusia, Community of Madrid, Canary Islands and Valencian Community) are, in turn, the ones that generate the busiest in the sector, bringing together, in the fourth quarter of 2019, 74, 6% of the total employed in the sector.
Due to growth in the number of employed in tourism, La Rioja (21.8%), Asturias (12.7%) and Andalusia (11.7%) stand out, while Murcia, Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura were the communities where the number of employed persons decreased more than the same quarter of the previous year.
