The Canary Islands have created 17,000 new jobs in Q1 2026 according to the data from the Spanish Labour Force Survey (EPA) of the INE (elDiario.es). The number of unemployed fell by 14,400 to 136,500. The unemployment rate stands at 11.4 percent — the lowest figure since the fourth quarter of 2007, when it was 10.9 percent.
The Canary Islands were in Q1 2026 simultaneously the Spanish autonomous community with the strongest job growth and the largest unemployment decline in all of Spain. At the national level the contrast is stark: Spain as a whole lost 170,300 jobs, unemployment rose by 231,500 people or 9.34 percent. A study by the Juan Miguel Sanjuán Chair at the University of La Laguna places the situation in structural perspective: the islands' growth is not demographically sustained from within their own population.
What figures does the EPA show for Q1 2026?
The Canary Islands reach 1,060,600 employed — the highest value in a first quarter since records began. In year-on-year comparison there are 36,500 more employed, a 3.6 percent rise. The active population grew over the last twelve months by 12,800 people to 1,197,100.
In sectoral detail a dual picture emerges. The private sector created 18,300 new jobs, the public sector lost 1,300. Full-time positions grew by 8,600, part-time by 8,400 — a notable relative rise of 8.01 percent in part-time. By contract type 12,000 additional permanent contracts were signed, 3,500 temporary added. The share of permanent contracts thus reaches 82.66 percent.
Unemployment fell more sharply among women than among men: 9,800 fewer unemployed women versus 4,600 fewer unemployed men. Youth unemployment under 25 stands now at 17.36 percent, 1,900 fewer than in the previous quarter.
What is the gap to the national rate?
The national unemployment rate is currently 10.83 percent. The Canary Islands at 11.4 percent are only 0.57 percentage points away. The islands have not been this close to the national average since December 2004, when the difference was 0.22 points.
The Canaries' lead over other tourism regions is more striking. The Balearic Islands — the other major Spanish tourism region — recorded an unemployment rise of 76.55 percent in Q1 2026. Catalonia lost 46,300 jobs. The connection to the tourism high season appears explicit in the EPA analysis: the Q1 growth is «closely tied to the accumulated tourism boom on the islands», according to elDiario.es.
In comparison with the national picture, the annual unemployment decline on the Canaries at 14.8 percent is almost five times the national average of 2.89 percent.
What does the Juan Miguel Sanjuán Chair say?
The Juan Miguel Sanjuán Chair, a research unit of the two public universities of the Canary Islands, published in January 2026 the study Participation of immigration in the labour market of the Canary Islands (Cátedra UGC). The central statement: «The generational replacement on the labour market of the Canaries is mathematically impossible without exogenous input.»
Concrete figures from the study: there are around 140,956 foreign-origin people registered with social security in the Canaries. Within this group the hospitality sector stands out with 53,325 workers. The foreign active population comprises two distinct profiles: non-EU citizens sustain the traditional engines — hospitality, construction, agriculture, household work. EU citizens have stronger presence in qualified activities such as scientific work.
The study dismantles the claim that migrants take work away from the local population. The foreign workforce, according to the Chair's conclusion, «concentrates in specific niches, complementing the local one or replacing it in those jobs that natives reject». Currently non-EU citizens make up 58.8 percent of the foreign workforce. The main non-EU countries of origin are Morocco, Colombia and Venezuela.
Where is the demographic bottleneck?
The Canary Islands reached in 2025 according to INE data their historical maximum of ageing: nearly 150 people over 64 for every 100 people under 16. This constellation means that the local population alone can no longer fill the positions vacated by retirement. To this is added the natural population growth, which is negative — more people die than are born.
The Chair speaks of an «absolute dependence on the migration balance to maintain the demographic volume necessary for sustaining internal demand and labour supply». Tourism has sharpened the situation: «The extraordinary tourism recovery in 2023 and 2024 with record visitor figures has pushed hotel and restaurant staff to the limit. In response, the labour market has resorted significantly to hiring workers from abroad.»
A complementary Chair study projects the situation to 2050: globally 360 million people will change residence per year according to models. The Canaries appear in this projection as a preferred destination for international migration, «because they are demanded by labour markets that are scarce, needy and aged».
Why does the housing question become a bottleneck?
A central observation of the Chair study: the labour market is increasingly in conflict with the housing market. The Economic and Social Council (CES) of the Canary Islands has identified housing access as one of the main conditioners of the economy. Vivienda Vacacional — holiday rentals — and the lack of residential rental supply in tourist areas have driven prices to the point that service workers can no longer afford to live near their workplaces.
The consequence: hoteliers in southern Tenerife and Gran Canaria report difficulties filling positions — «not because workers are missing on the island, but because workers cannot find viable accommodation», according to the Chair. The current housing policy of the Canarian government — 10,000 homes a year as target, the State Housing Plan 2026–2030 (CITA) — addresses exactly this bottleneck.
The Chair's diagnosis thus connects two current political fronts: housing policy and migration policy. Both depend on each other, both will decide in the next legislature whether today's employment dynamic holds.