Tenerife Capital Unemployment Hits 17-Year Low
Tenerife's capital recorded its lowest unemployment figures since April 2008 at the end of 2025, with a 7.4% drop compared to the previous year, primarily driven by the services sector.
At the end of 2025, Tenerife's capital had 16,107 people registered as unemployed at public employment offices. This was a positive change, representing a 7.4% drop and 1,281 fewer people on the unemployment lists compared to the end of 2024.
These numbers mean the city has the fewest unemployed people since April 2008. This trend mirrors what's happening across the entire Canary Islands, where unemployment is low and Social Security registrations are at their highest, largely due to a strong tourism sector.
Looking at different sectors, the biggest drops in unemployment were seen in Services. Specifically, commercial businesses saw 240 fewer unemployed people, and the hospitality sector (hotels, restaurants, etc.) had 160 fewer. Both of these sectors saw unemployment fall by about 7.7%. While this was the lowest percentage drop for the city, agriculture had the best performance, with a 20% decrease. However, this only meant 38 fewer unemployed people. Currently, only 149 people in Santa Cruz are registered as unemployed in agriculture, compared to over 3,000 in commerce and more than 2,000 in hospitality.
The industrial sector also saw a good improvement, with unemployment falling by 15%, meaning 102 fewer people and a total of 577 registered. Construction also reduced its unemployment by 11.2%, with 151 fewer people, leaving 1,192 registered in employment offices. These figures come from the Canary Islands Employment Observatory (Obecan).
The data for the end of 2025 shows that almost half (47.7%) of the unemployed people in Tenerife's capital have been out of work for over a year. This group totals 7,689 people, which is 9.5% fewer than at the end of 2024.
A similar situation applies to job seekers over 45 years old, who make up a larger portion, 62%, of all unemployed people. In both the long-term unemployed and the over-45 age group, there are more women than men.
Foreign nationals account for 6.3% of the capital's unemployed, totaling 1,023 people. The main nationalities are from Venezuela (195), Italy (153), and Cuba (111). Six out of ten unemployed foreign nationals are from countries outside the EU, while 33% are from within the EU. Among foreign nationals, unemployment affects more women (61.5% of the total) than men.