The Economy

In the period covering 2000-2009, the Region of Murcia led economic growth in Spain with an annual average growth rate of 2.52%, a full half point above the national average (2.31%).

Furthermore, the Region of Murcia has been able to translate this economic growth into job creation for many years although from 2008 onwards, the loss of jobs has increased as a result of the international economic crisis that affects all western economies, with an unemployment rate of over 20% in 2010.
 

 

Areas of Production

Agriculture

The agricultural sector accounts for 5% of the regional GVA (2.73% in Spain) and 11% of total employment in 2009. Since 2000, this sector has gradually decreased in importance in both Spain and the Region of Murcia, a characteristic which is typical of economic evolution in developed countries.

Industry

The importance of the industrial sector, including energy, is similar in the Region of Murcia to its importance throughout Spain. It comprised 18% of regional GVA (18.0% in Spain) and 15.5% of employment in 2009. Nevertheless, differences do exist in the energy and manufacturing subsectors. While the contribution of the energy sector in Murcia has surpassed the national level for the past few years (4.5% in the region as compared to 3.0% at the national level in 2009), the contribution of the manufacturing industry in Murcia was 1.7 points lower than it was for Spain in general (13.4% regionally as compared to 15.1% throughout Spain). The evolution of the energy sector’s contribution to the regional economy is proof of our strength as an energy center with all that implies as regards regional development. Just as in Spain and the rest of Europe, the manufacturing industry in the Region has begun to fade in terms of its relative weight in the economy. In the year 2000 it represented 16.1% of the GAV and by the year 2009, it had decreased to 12.9%. It is important to mention that we have been able to increase the contribution of Murcian industry to the overall production of this area; in the year 2000, our industry contributed 2% of the total national production while in the year 2009, that number had increased to 2.3%.

The growth-in-business data provided by Spain’s National Institute of Statistics serves as proof of the excellent situation the industrial sector in the Region of Murcia is currently enjoying. In the period 2000-20098, the number of active businesses in the Region has increased 39.8%, more than in any other region in Spain and a full 14.3 points above the national rate. In absolute numbers, this translates into 31,944 new companies in this short period, 11.5% of all of the new businesses in Spain, all of which have also contributed to a very high level of new job creation in the Region over the last few years. At the same time, our regional economy has been gradually expanding beyond our borders and our export capacity now exceeds the traditionally European markets. Thus, our economic opening level, defined as the ratio of the sum of import-export and GDP, has increased from 47.8% in 2000 to 48.7% in 2009, and exports have increased almost 37.6% in the same period of time.

 

 

Construction

In 2009, the construction industry generated 10.36% of regional GVA and provided 10.15% of total employment. From 2000-2009, this sector experienced very dynamic growth, just as it did throughout Spain. Growth in the Region of Murcia surpassed the national average by 0.3% (5.8% in Murcia compared to 5.5% at the national level). This has allowed us to increase our contribution to the national total by 0.2%, from 2.4% in 2000 to 2.6% in 2009, although this is not a very significant shift.

Services

The service sector represents 69.91% of regional GVA and provides 65.71% of the jobs. This percentage growth is surely a reflection of the notable expansion of this sector throughout the Region. It is also interesting to note that this is the highest average growth rate in (4.6% in Murcia as compared to 3.7% in Spain). This is evidence of the significant level of development which has occurred during this period of time and is indicative of sectoral behavior in developed economies. Once again, growth in this sector has surpassed national levels and the percentage of services provided by the Region of Murcia to the national total has increased from 2.2% in the year 2000 to 2.53% in 2009.