Government approves measures to boost employment

 

The government's commitment is to incorporate the most vulnerable groups into the labour market: the long-term unemployed, the over 55s and the less-qualified young people. The Council of Ministers approved the Spanish Strategy to Boost Employment 2014-2016; the Annual Employment Policy Plan 2014, and the distribution of more than 1.2 billion euros to the regional governments for active employment policies. Moreover, it presented reports on the future portfolio of common services of the National Employment System and on the reform of the Employment Training System.

The Minister for Employment and Social Security, Fátima Báñez, argued that we are faced with a very different economic backdrop when compared with that at the start of the legislature, since the figures show that for the first time since the crisis began there is sustainable employment growth and a drop in unemployment. Fátima Báñez pointed to the fact that in the last year, 230,000 people have joined the job market and recorded unemployment has fallen by 270,000 people. Moreover, in the second quarter of 2014, following 23 consecutive quarters of declines, growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was comparable with employment growth.

The minister acknowledged that more than 4 million citizens are still out of work, and hence the government's challenge is to help them rejoin the labour market, particularly groups suffering the greatest difficulties. In this regard, she recalled that the President of the Government made a commitment to the Presidents of the Regional Governments, at the Conference of Presidents in October 2012, to "analyse, evaluate, reorganise and modernise active employment policies".
Along the same lines, the Vice-President of the Government, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, indicated that "the challenge now is to incorporate more jobless into the labour market so that they can become part of the economic reactivation".

Fátima Báñez stressed that active employment policies have never suffered from a lack of resources, but the effectiveness, evaluation, supervision and results of these policies have failed. "The challenge we face is to transform these resources into results", she said.

In order to achieve this objective, the minister explained that initiatives have already been implemented in collaboration with the regional governments and private initiatives, of which Single Employment Portal, Dual Vocational Training, the Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment Strategy and the Youth Guarantee Programme, are particularly noteworthy.

 In addition to these initiatives is the Spanish Strategy to Boost Employment, which will guide policies according to their results in such a way that the assessment of the results will condition the distribution of funds in subsequent financial years. "None of our peer countries, not even Germany, ties in the funds for the following year to the results from the previous year. Spain is doing this gradually, but this will be stepped up as from next year", announced Fátima Báñez.
In her opinion, in addition to improving employability, the strategy will optimise the quality of training for job insertion, will link active and passive employment policies and will drive entrepreneurship. Long-term objectives are also established, among which she highlighted specialised attention for each person out of work and the modernisation of the public employment services.

The government has also approved the Annual Employment Policy Plan 2014, which puts specific aspects of the strategy into action and responds to six major pillars: guidance, training, job opportunities, equal opportunities, entrepreneurship and an improvement in the institutional framework of the National Health System.

On another note, the government agreed to distribute 1.25 billion euros to those regional governments with powers to implement active employment policies. Fátima Báñez announced that next year, 60% of the funds will be allocated according to the objectives.

Portfolio of services and training

Council of Ministers analysed a report on the future Portfolio of Common Employment Services to guarantee that workers have access to employment services under equal conditions throughout the country. The portfolio will be made up of four services: professional guidance; placement and corporate advice; training and qualifications for employment; and advice on self-employment and entrepreneurship.

The government also studied a report on the reform of the Vocational Training System for Employment, drawn up with contributions from social stakeholders, trade unions and business organisations.

Fátima Báñez stressed that the vocational training policies are not leading to the right results because six out of ten students did not acquire new skills and techniques applicable to the labour market and only 17% of them found a job related to the course they had attended. Furthermore, between 2007 and 2013, more than half the workers who did not pass basic education lost their job while the number of people in work with higher education studies actually increased by 2%.
The new system will come into force on 1 January 2015, announced the minister, and it will be geared to satisfying the needs of our productive fabric. Workers will have a logbook detailing and certifying all training received in the course of their working life. The evaluation of the quality of the services will be ongoing and a specialised work inspection unit will be set up to avoid fraud.