Taxi solutions ‘too late’

AN announcement by the Balearic Islands Government last week that the number of taxi licences will be increased ready for the summer has been met with shrugged shoulders by drivers in Mallorca.

The presidents of the island’s two taxi associations, Biel Moragues and Antoni Bauzá were quoted by a local news source as saying that the emergency measure to grant seasonal licences “is already unfeasible” and “should have been done at the end of last summer.”

According to the two spokespeople for the sector, the issue is not so much the procedures involved, but the actual logistics of getting more licensed cars on the roads, especially in Palma and Calvia, the two cities most affected by the taxi shortage last year.

The difficulties reportedly lie mainly with the installation of taximeters and appointments with the ITV (MOT) vehicle inspec­

THE gender pay gap between men and women has been dropping in the Balearic Islands since 2018 and currently sits at below 8.5 per cent.

A study by Ibestat shows that the Balearics, together with the Canary Islands, lead the ranking of Spanish regions with regards to closing the gap, which currently sits at half the national averageand shrinking each year.

This is partly explained by the fact that average earnings for men are lower than the Spanish average on the islands, while average earnings for women are higher.

The Ibestat report also shows that 50 per cent of the pay gap is due to wage differences per hour, while the remaining 50 per cent is down to greater difficulties for women to access full­time, year­round employment.

The good news is that the research only covers as far as the first half of 2022, ie before the new labour reform implemented by the Spanish government targeted temporary and part­time con­