While the number of businesses does reflect a regional economy in reasonably good shape, the president of the CAEB Confederation of Balearic Business Associations, Carmen Planas, says that it hides the constant loss of productivity over recent years.
Planas and the CAEB have consistently made this point, they and others having highlighted the fact that per capita income in Mallorca and the Balearics has been on the slide since the start of the century.
In the EU regional table, the Balearics ranked 46th in 2001; the islands are now 110th. Antoni Riera, technical director of the Fundació Impulsa for Balearic competitiveness, has said: "The islands continue to grow ... but not because our ability to generate value increases. The result is that average income tends to erode." A lack of productivity is the main economic problem facing the Balearics.
Various reasons have been offered to explain this, one being an economy that is predominantly focused on services, which places sectors such as tourism and retail firmly in the frame. Of the 30,000+ businesses in the first quarter, 5,487 were hospitality businesses; 5,287 were retail, wholesale and vehicle repair. In third place was construction - 5,077 businesses.
Other sectors that fall under the service banner are: professional, scientific and technical activities (2,067); administrative and auxiliary services activities (1,788); "other services" (1,660); transport and storage (1,546); real estate activities (1,098). The list goes on. For manufacturing industry there were 1,696 businesses.
This isn't to say that there aren't services that generate the added value measure of productivity (as Antoni Riera has explained), but there is a preponderance of businesses in service sectors where this added value is highly questionable.
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Productivity has always been a problem here. Service people who don't show up, or don't do much once they finally arrive, working hours for banks and post offices (closed at 14:00) you can forget anyone doing anything useful on a Friday. Having said that, in the past few years, I've been often surprised at the improvements in customer service ethic. Service people showing up on time, actually possessing expertise in their field, telling the truth rather than just trying to sell you something you don't need for triple the price you can buy it at Obramat. And the supermarkets... Friendly, helpful service (well, more than before - some still waste a lot of time at the till). And availability; you can get a lot more stuff these days - and there's s lot more shops competing. Lastly, you can actually get a straight answer on a Friday. Not always, but it's more frequent now than it's ever been. Overall, it's still not the most productive, but it's a lot better than it used to be... it appears that local businesses are finally starting to wake up. Except banks and post offices of course.
Now if only they would stop making it so expensive to be self employed people might be able to make a living.