Employment Crisis
As for employment, a longtime weakness of the Spanish economy, after having completed large improvements over the second half of the 1990s and during the 2000s (decade), which put a few regions on the brink of full employment, Spain suffered a severe setback from October 2008, when it saw its unemployment rate surging to 1996 levels. During the period October 2007-October 2008 Spain had its unemployment rate climbing 37%, exceeding the unemployment surge of past economic crises like 1993. In particular, during the month of October 2008, Spain feared its worst unemployment rise ever recorded and, so far, the country is suffering a big unemployment crisis.
By July 2009, it had shed 1.2 million jobs in one year. Spain's unemployment rate hit 17.4% at the end of March, with two million people lost their jobs; with the oversized building and housing related industries contributing greatly to the rising unemployment numbers. In this same month, Spain had over 4,000,000 people unemployed, an especially shocking figure even for a country which had become used to grim unemployment data. Since 2009 thousands of established immigrants began to leave, although some that did continued to maintain homes in Spain due to poor conditions in their country of origin.
In May 2012 began a radical labor reform that make more flexible labor market and facilitates the layoffs. The Minister for Employment and Social Security, Fátima Báñez, said in June 19, 2012, that labor reform promoted by the Government has allowed reached in a short time, 32,500 contracts for entrepreneurs, of which over 50% has gone to young people.
According to the minister, this data, together with the agreement of payment to suppliers of public administrations, shows that "labor reform is already starting to work." Said that the measures determined that the dismissal will become the "last resort" and that the increase in employment and labor flexibility are the "priority".
The minister stressed that "today the companies can agree with the workers to overcome the crisis through measures of flexibility, reduced working hours and wage moderation, before the dismissal." According to Báñez, reforms and adjustments made by the Spanish Government are beginning to create a situation of economic growth, "creating jobs", while measures are "rationalization and austerity" in public spending, will show growth employment in the coming months.
Read more about this topic: Economy Of Spain
Famous quotes containing the words employment and/or crisis:
“The boatmen appeared to lead an easy and contented life, and we thought that we should prefer their employment ourselves to many professions which are much more sought after. They suggested how few circumstances are necessary to the well-being and serenity of man, how indifferent all employments are, and that any may seem noble and poetic to the eyes of men, if pursued with sufficient buoyancy and freedom.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Most observers of the French Revolution, especially the clever and noble ones, have explained it as a life-threatening and contagious illness. They have remained standing with the symptoms and have interpreted these in manifold and contrary ways. Some have regarded it as a merely local ill. The most ingenious opponents have pressed for castration. They well noticed that this alleged illness is nothing other than the crisis of beginning puberty.”
—Novalis [Friedrich Von Hardenberg] (1772–1801)