Sant Cugat del Vallés, in Barcelona, is the municipality with the lowest unemployment in Spain, with an estimated average unemployment rate of 5.2% in 2022. It is followed by Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid), with 5.8%, according to the “Urban Indicators 2023” report published this Monday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Both municipalities were already leading the rankings when the 2021 data was released a year ago, but in the opposite order. Thus, in this new edition of the statistics, Sant Cugat del Vallés dethroned Pozuelo as having the lowest unemployment rate in all of Spain. San Sebastián is in third place with an unemployment rate of 6.5%, followed by Las Rozas de Madrid (6.7%) and Majadahonda (Madrid) (6.7%).
Conversely, the Cádiz municipality of La Linea de la Concepción has the highest unemployment rate (29.3%), followed by Ceuta (28%), Linares (Jaén) (25.9%) and Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz). and Granada, both with unemployment figures of 24.2%.
In fact, of the 15 municipalities with the highest estimated average unemployment rates by 2022, the majority are in Andalusia. Thus, in addition to the four already mentioned, we must also add Algeciras (23.5%), Sanlúcar de Barrameda (23.3%), San Fernando (22.4%), Córdoba (22.2%), Chiclana de la Frontera ( 22.1%), Cádiz (21.6%), Alcalá de Guadaira (21.2%) and El Puerto de Santa María (21%). Outside the Andalusian community, the autonomous cities of Ceuta (28%) and Melilla (21.3%) and Talavera de la Reina (Toledo) (21.7%) were among the 15 municipalities with the highest unemployment rates.
In contrast, five of the 15 municipalities with the lowest unemployment rates are in the Community of Madrid (Pozuelo, Las Rosas, Majadahonda, Alcobendas and San Sebastián de los Reyes); four from the Basque Country (San Sebastián, Getso, Irun and Vitoria); four from Catalonia (Sant Cugat, Barcelona, Castelldefels and Cerdanyola del Vallés); one from Castilla and León (Burgos) and one from Galicia (Santiago de Compostela).
Regarding activity rates, the municipalities that presented the highest rates in 2022 are Rivas-Vacciamadrid (69.8%), Valdemoro (68.7%) and Parla (67.3%), all of them in the Community of Madrid. On the opposite side, the municipalities with the lowest turnout were Ferrol (50.1%), Aviles (50.3%) and Gijon (50.4%).
San Sebastian, the highest income urban area
The report released this Monday includes data known as functional urban areas (AUF). Each AUF consists of a city and municipalities that form its functional environment, specifically the impact of labor. 70 functional urban areas have been defined for the whole of Spain.
A municipality belongs to the AUF of the city if 15% or more of its employed population moves to that location for work reasons. The AUFs with the highest population in 2022 were Madrid (with 6.98 million people), Barcelona (5.09 million) and Valencia (1.78 million).
Donostia/San Sebastián AUF led the average annual net income per inhabitant in 2020 with €16,836, followed by Bilbao (€15,436) and Madrid (€15,407). In turn, Torrevieja (€8,441), Lorca (€9,402) and Marbella (€9,721) were the functional urban areas that presented the lowest incomes.
INE emphasizes that the share of employment in industry and services makes it possible to distinguish AUFs characterized by a strong presence in these sectors compared to others. In 2021, the industrial districts of Aviles (with 26.7% employment in industry), Alcoy (23.7%) and Sagunto (23.5%) stood out. On the other hand, the AUFs of Marbella (2.6%), Almeria (3.1%) and Mérida (3.1%) registered the lowest weight of industrial employment.
As a proportion of the population employed in the service sector, all AUFs exceed 64%. The highest percentages were recorded in Mérida (91.5%), Toledo (91.2%) and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (87.7%). On the other hand, the AUFs in which the service sector had less weight in employment were Avilés (64.7%), Lorca (65.0%) and Sagunto (68.8%).
Madrid district El Viso, the richest in Spain
The statistics also collect data below the city called “sub-city district” (SCD). In many cases, this coincides with the existing division into administrative districts or districts.
The current list of “SCD areas” consists of the municipalities of Alicante, Barcelona, Bilbao, Córdoba, Gijon, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Madrid, Malaga, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Seville. , Valencia, Valladolid, Vigo, Vitoria and Zaragoza. In total, 523 “SD districts” are included in the statistics.
The highest average annual net income per inhabitant as of 2020 were El Viso (€40,815), Recoletos (€37,067) and Castellana (€36,660), all three in Madrid. In contrast, the lowest were found in the district of Poligono Sur in the southern district of Seville (€5,816) and in the Los Pajaritos and Amat districts of the Cerro Amat district, with €6,043, and in the Juan XXIII district of Alicante. (6503 euros).
Source: El Diario
