Canary Islands: over-45s get 27% of job contracts

What does the report mean for residents and visitors?

La Provincia published an analysis of age and unemployment in the Canary Islands on 2 November 2026. It is a reading of data, not a change in the law.

The report names no new rules, deadlines or subsidies for those affected, and further research found none. For visitors, it brings no obligation and no restriction.

Anyone over 45 who lives in Tenerife and is looking for work will read the figures mainly as a warning about long searches. No official advice on this analysis has been published.

The Servicio Canario de Empleo (the Canarian employment service) of the regional government handles labour market policy. Job seekers can ask there about current offers, but no new measure for older workers is documented.

How big is the gap between the unemployed and new contracts?

INE counts 58,800 unemployed people aged 45 and over in the Canary Islands, out of 131,800 in total, as La Provincia reports. That is 44.6%.

ISTAC reports 18,510 contracts for this group in September, out of 67,755 in all. Their share is 27.3%.

Put another way, about 45 in every hundred jobless people are older workers, but only 27 in every hundred new contracts go to them. La Provincia calls this gap the most telling figure.

Spain as a whole looks similar. In March 2026, people aged 45 and over signed 367,204 contracts, against 943,863 for younger people, according to the report. That is roughly 28%.

The overall picture is improving. INE's labour force survey, the EPA, shows 38,100 more people in work and 4,300 fewer unemployed in the third quarter. The rate fell to 10.9%, the lowest in two decades.

Why do other media report 63% instead of 45%?

Atlántico Hoy and Libertad Digital reported on 22 October 2026, using SEPE data (the state employment agency), 146,295 unemployed people in the Canary Islands. Of these, 91,961 are aged 45 or over, or 63%.

The La Provincia headline, by contrast, speaks of half, while its text says “casi el 45%” (almost 45%). The outlets rely on different sources: the INE survey on one side and SEPE data on the other.

Whether that alone explains the gap could not be established. The reference month for the 146,295 figure is not given either.

For the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which also includes La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, Atlántico Hoy gives 44,344 older people among 70,631 unemployed. This group received 28.47% of contracts, which is 5.46% more than in 2024.

In the province of Las Palmas the figures are 47,617 of 75,664 unemployed, or 62.93%. There, older workers received 26.29% of contracts (97,619), which is 0.83% more than in 2024.

Why is it so hard for older people to find a new job?

The foundation Fundación Más Sénior calls the problem “edadismo laboral”, meaning age discrimination at work. Its director Sonia Catalán calls it “an invisible barrier” that often works unconsciously.

In the foundation's survey, 58% of people over 45 said they had been discriminated against because of their age. Catalán also warns of filters in automatic application systems, which sort out CVs before the first interview.

The economist José Miguel González, formerly the Canarian government's director general for employment, sees a difference between the employed and the unemployed. Those without a job are harder to hire, he says, while those in work are less likely to lose it.

González points to mobility and training. Older people are often tied to where they live, and many jobs now demand more qualifications; the situation is hardest from age 50 for those without sought-after skills.

Across Spain, the foundation's report says more than half of unemployed people over 50 have been out of work for over a year (53%). Between 2020 and 2025, overall unemployment fell by around 33%, but by 20% among the over-50s.

How is the situation developing, and who is responsible?

In August 2026 the statistics counted 144,459 unemployed people in the Canary Islands, as Diario de Avisos reports. Of these, 89,097 were aged 45 or over, which is 4,659 fewer than a year earlier (down 4.97%).

Long-term unemployment fell to 63,326 in August, the lowest since January 2009. In September Diario de Avisos counted 140,303 unemployed in total, but that report has no breakdown by age.

The Canarian government has called the issue important before. President Fernando Clavijo said in September 2023 that long-term unemployment among older people with little education was “one of the priorities” of his government, as La Voz de Lanzarote reported.

Clavijo gave no budget or dates at the time. For the Cabildo de Tenerife (the island government), our research found no programme aimed specifically at people over 45.

What is still unknown?

There are no figures for the island of Tenerife alone, only for the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. No names of officials in the Gobierno de Canarias or at trade unions responsible for this analysis were found either.

The date of the next release of unemployment figures is not documented. Anyone who wants it must check with SEPE.