Spanish labour market hits a new record: less than four million jobless people for the first time since 2008, according to Q2 Labour Force Survey. Figures of unemployment dropped by 340.000 between April and June to 3,914,300 people, therefore reaching a rate of 17.22%. Employment grows by 375,000 new jobs; working population increases to 18.81 millions.
Excepting the high speed trains involving the so famous La Meca-Medina contract in Arabia Saudi, and despite authorities and the industry itself have been trying for decades, Spain has been unable to sign even a single high-speed sales operation. This is not, however, the official discourse of any of them.
The new 5 billion euros highway investment plan, which includes the collaboration of private capital, presented today by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will go some way to rectifying the slump in public works tenders which has continued over the last few months.
According to the National Statistics Institute, the most normal average annual gross salary is around 16.500 euros. So once this has been paid 14 times a year and taxes and Social Security contributions have been deducted, this ends up as a little over 800 euros net per month. This sort of income will never drive consumption or housing sales and is not adequate for a European economy like Spain’s.
J.L. M. Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) | The Spanish banks have made a big effort over the last few years to provide solutions for more than a million households experiencing difficulties in meeting their mortgages repayments. We estimate that over 10% of current existing mortgages have been refinanced or restructured.
Last week the Spanish government announced an offer of nearly 20,000 jobs in the public sector. The offer consists of: 10,318 free entrance posts in the General State Administration and the Justice Administration, as well as a further 5,350 internal promotion posts. There is also a one-time offer of public sector employment involving 4,285 newly created jobs in priority sectors where there is a “deficit” like the Inland Revenue Office, Social Security, Work Inspection and National Identity Document and National Traffic offices.
The Basque region-based industries, like the automotive and aerospace, are global and cutting hedge. They export between 70% and 90% of their production, achieving surpluses for the region’s trade balance, of some 5 billion euros in one of the last few years.
If you’ve had trouble hailing a cab on the streets of Madrid, Barcelona or many other cities in Spain recently, there’s a good chance it was because of a taxi drivers’ strike. There have been a number of these in recent months, all with the same aim: to halt the expansion of ride-sharing firm Uber.
This week Spain ratified its free trade agreement with Canada, known as CETA (Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) in spite of the suprising abstention of PSOE. Spain’s trade relations with Canada date back to the XVI century.
J. L. M. Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) |What is the main concern for Spain’s SMEs? The lack of clients. This is what they have revealed in the latest survey published by the ECB, covering the period from October 2016 to March 2017. And what about financing? It was once again the least of its worries, something which has been the case since the start of the year.