More than 40% of Spanish companies are planning or considering cutting their workforce due to the impact of Covid-19. At the same time, 25% of firms have frozen salaries and 16% are reducing them, according to a survey of nearly 1,000 European organisations, carried out by consultancy group Willis Towers Watson. More than one hundred Spanish companies are included in the survey.
CaixaBank Research | Immigration is back in Spain after years of crisis in which there were many more immigrants departing than arriving (between 2010 and 2014). More specifically, Spain has once again become a net recipient of foreign immigration since 2015 and the trend has intensified in recent years: net inflows of foreign nationals reached 330,000 people in 2018 according to the migration statistics of the National Statistics Institute. The following are the main conclusions.
J.P. Marín Arrese / Looking for any rational clue in the extricate discussion on labour relations seems a hopeless aim. One even wonders why economists still call it a market when it departs so obviously from any standard pattern.
Unemployment fell by 112,400 people in 2019, 3.4% less than in 2018, registering its seventh consecutive annual decline. This drop is the smallest since 2013, when unemployment fell by 85,400 people. The fall in unemployment was four times less in 2019 compared with 2018.The jobless rate stood at 13.78% at end-2019.
William Chislett | Spain has moved from a labour market characterised during the Franco regime by heavy state intervention, no free trade unions, the prohibition of strikes and lock-outs, a low female participation rate and paternalistic legislation to one that is flexible, but marked by consistently high unemployment.
Reforms in Spain’s education system are key to guaranteeing future economic growth. But having a better educated population would also help to fight against rising inequality and poverty.
Companies have to make an effort to generate quality jobs so the recovery in confidence and consumption ends up being consolidated, says Mutua Madrileña chairman Ignacio Garralda.
According to forecasts from The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Spain’s labour market will be amongst the top performers in the “Club of the rich countries,” registering the biggest advance in terms of employment in 2016 and overcoming the negative trend seen during the crisis. The international institution warns that a new recession could take Spain by surprise without having recovered all the jobs lost in the crisis.
LONDON | By Antonio García Pascual at Barclays | The most recent labour market data have been improving at a faster pace than we had envisaged, including results for the Q3 14 Economically Active Population Survey (EAPS). The EAPS shows that employment increased by 151k in Q3 (private sector +155k; public sector -4k). The number of unemployed fell by 195k, standing at 5.4mn. The unemployment rate stood at 23.7% (24.1% sa), compared to 24.5% in Q2 (24.7% sa). The participation rate continues to fall, to 59.4% (sa), albeit at a moderate pace – this is also consistent with ongoing net migration outflows.