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The job market in Spain

In the last few years, the unemployement in Spain has increased reaching 26,02 % , according to EPA (Encuesta de Población Activa, in English, Labour Force Survey), which means 5.965.400 unemployed. This is a historical record, due to the economic crisis and, in my opinion, to the mismanagement of the successive goverments in Spain.


(This graph shows the increase of unemployed people (the red line) from 2002 to 2012)

The situation in especially worrying in the case of inmigrants, young people and old people. The unemployment among young people is about 50%. Similarly people over 50 being made redundant are not able to come back to the job market.

Historically, the job market in Spain has been like a roller coaster. This is shown in the next graph, where we can observe constant fluctuation in the unemployment rate.

(Unemployment rate in Spain from 1976 to 2008)

Why are young Spaniards unemployed?

One of the reasons is that most of them are not educated well: a lot of them gave up their education at the age of 16 to work, e.g. in the building market and now there are no more jobs for them  in this sector. In most cases they have to return to schools. However, the number of unemployed with university degrees has increased too.

Some young people can live without earning money because their parents can take care of them, but the increase of unemployement in other sectors can make unemployed other family members as well. As a result, there is an exodus of young people to other countries with better job prospects, like Germany or England, and most of them are university graduates. 


The problem is especially worrying in the case of scientific research. For example, some days ago, the European Science Foundation (ESF) suspended all grants to Spanish research because due to  lack of financial involvement of the Spanish government. This is the end of the scientific research in Spain, which is necessary to develop the country.



Here comes into my mind a question: what is the goverment doing to stop the increase of unemployment?

Last year the Spanish goverment approved a labor reform to try to make job contracts more flexible and to support small companies, but a year later the unemployement is still increasing and many people believe this reform is destroying more jobs than it is creating and it benefits only business owners instead of the unemployed.

In conclusion, the perspective of getting a job in Spain is dubious, but there is still hope to improve this situation, like this video shows (this is a flash mob done by a Spanish radio programme called “Carne cruda” in a unemployement office to give hope and encouragement to unemployed people):


Questions:
Do you see similarities between unemployment in Spain and in Poland?
What do you think the Spanish government  should do to change this situation?

Sources
http://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/view/86183-reforma-laboral-trabajo-espana-paro








Comments

  1. Nowadays, we read a lot about crisis in Spain and a huge problem with unemployment. I don't see similarities between unemployment in Spain and in Poland. I think we have better education and we don't give up our education so often and so early. We try to reconcile education and the willingness of working, because every student want to have some extra money.
    I agree that Spanish government should support some small companies and try to make more jobs to different kind of people. There also should be some special courses for people with a little education.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Crisis is ubiquitous around the world. Every day we still listening to about money problems and economic, social and government situation. We may make something positive but I do not sure if it may bring some benefits for us. In my opinion situation in Poland isn't so worrisome in compare to Spain. First of all our rate of unemployment is less than rate of unemployment in Spain. Even though our government has lots of opponents similarly lots of followers I think that the situation in our country is getting better. We may see this if we compare our significant position with another European countries such as Italy, Portugal, Cyprus. But Polish people always will be dissatisfied and always want to have more and more. :)
    First of all Spanish government should help young people and elderly people trough some organizations which would support them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The problem of unemployment is increasing from year to year, not only in Spain but throughout the world, also in Poland. However, I think that unemployment in Poland is different than the one in Spain. First of all, in spain the problem has reached enormous proportions. Over 50% of young people are unemployed. This is due f.ex. to the fact that the Spaniards often early give up education. In Poland people don;t do it so often.
    When it comes to the government, I really don't know what could be the solution of this problem. I think that it might be helpful if government support young people to start their own business etc. But I think that there isn't one good solution.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think that the problem of unemployment is very common in all countries. In each country there are different causes of unemployment. I do not see any similarities between unemployment in Poland and Spain. It's horrible for me, that in Spanish some young people can live withough earning money, because their parents can take care of them. For me they must take care about their education, their future! They shouldn't pay for them all life.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think in Poland we have completely different problems than Spain. For example we have a lot high educated people who have to do simple jobs. Moreover the Spanish crisis has different roots, because foreign problems have greater influence on their economy. In my opinion government should create the new possibilities to quick retrain.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Unemployment in Poland differs from Spanish one, because it's not that serious, although in Poland it's still increasing so we should watch out and try not to end up like Spain. The best solution for Spain is government supporting small business, it creates a lot of workplaces.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm impressed by Carne Cruda's Flashmob. I have already shown it too my younger sister and she is impressed too. In my opinion this is really important to keep hope and think positive. I think we have smaller problem in Poland with unemployment, only 14% of people in our country don't have job. Of course, it is't good, but it's much better that in Spain.

    ReplyDelete
  8. the solution of unemployment in Spain is quite easy to find, The Spanish society life beyond. Ordinary family two years ago by a lot of luxury thinks ( cars houses ) they have a life credit contracts out of Spain credit market. That kind of situation is very dangers for economy stabilization.
    In Poland we have a problem with unemployment by unemp. Rate is lowest then Spain, we haven’t got the biggest crisis in the world.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I read in the Internet about high unemployment in Spain. It can be real problem for every country but when I was in Spain I didn’t see any problem for Spanish people. In my opinion in that country is better than in Poland. They have better road, a lot of highway even in mountain where is extremely hard to build a road. I unfortunately was in health clinic and there was not any queue and three doctors had investigated one patient. People in Spain are very happy. I think that the reason of unemployment in Spain is not no action of government but that people don’t want to go to job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The highways and the other good things in Spain have nothing to do with the unemployement, actually in Spain there was a period of abundance some years ago, but now I assure you that a lot of people are desperate to find a job and start working again.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  10. I don't see any real similarities, other then word 'unemployment' ;). It is rare to stop education before 18 and we rarely don't go to the university. We rather have redundant university graduates.
    Furthermore Spanish government can't really apply it's own people. Rather then plan with prospect of long scale growth, they concentrate on not bankrupting the country.

    ReplyDelete
  11. There's lots of similarities between Spain and Poland when it comes to unemployment. First of all education doesn't give a guarantee of employment. Nowadays, in time of deep crisis, the main impornatce is creativity and not to be afraid of the risk. Second of all I do not agree with previous speaker that it is rare to stop education before 18. It's not so rare, some people just do not have money to study on universities.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I saw one huge similarity - young people high unemployment rate. I don't know why our age interval suffers from unemployment but I think there are a solutions for it. I'm not a specialist but we shoud focus on ours countries and try to make strong its economic features for example buying a "motherland's" products. Young people are a future so education and prospects are obvious.

    ReplyDelete
  13. In my opinion similarities in Spain and in our country are unemployment among young people- before studies for example. The governments have no idea how to solve this problem. Also level of unemployment rate is similar. Of course situation in our country is not as critical as in Spain but still our 14 percent is too high. I don't know if there is good, effective solution to improve Spanish situation. This country is in deep crisis and it is hard to do good reforms because of lack of money. In my opinion maybe privatization of national companies to the foreigners maybe international capital can cure Spain's position.

    ReplyDelete
  14. 1. In my opinion, this situation can be similar in some points: we have problems with unemployment and our system of education is defective too. Majority of young people in Poland can’t find a new job because of lack in experience and skills, which are obligated to obtain a vacancy. But our amount of unemployed is not as large as in Spain.
    2. There are may ways to change this phenomena, but I think that the main problem is education. They should change it and fit educational program to vacancies, which are offered in a job market.

    ReplyDelete
  15. In my opinion is diffrent situation, because in Spain it is a problem with people, who don't want study and finish education before 16. In Poland is a Problem with job after study. People are educated, but they are unemployed. Very often we hear: more important is experience than education. It is true? I don't know, but I believe that my education give me benefits.
    Government should show society, that education in only one way to make career and give place in government only people with education

    ReplyDelete
  16. For me, there is a huge uneployment problem both in Spain and Poland, but it is undoubtedly more serious in Spain. The reason for that is education, which level in Spian is below the average and, what is more, it is common to quit the education by young Spaniards, thus there are too many physical workes and and dicrepancy in job market.
    To fight the problem, government shoud change education system and bump the economy by supporting small enterpirses and start some social programmes.

    ReplyDelete
  17. What spanish gouvernment should have to do, was not to allow buliding sector to grow to dangerous size. Now they have structural crisis in their economy, which is intensified by corruption scandals. Young people are in almost hopeless situation. They can move abroad or... wait for better time for them.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I think that situation in Poland is a little bit different. We've got a lot of educated young people and they are not so spoiled as spanish are.
    Spanish government should support education. It is very important. They should as well encourage people to run their own bussineses.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The situation in Spain and in Poland is quite similar. WE have probles to find a job because of lack the experience, lack of skills or lack of good prepared. I think that the main problem is in education. Maybe the "weak" or not goog prapared program of learning is a source of huge unemployment in this countries.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The situation both countries job market condition is similar in few points. First we have a problem with unemployment as well. Another burning issue is education system. Nowadays there are different needs, education must follow after them. The governments should look after transformative changes in Education.
    There is a global crisis, but it is not something rare in our civilization. Creativity, self-thinking, open minded, working in group, good English language, personal interests and informatics are the most important for young people.

    ReplyDelete
  21. The best solution for Spain is government supporting small business, it creates a lot of workplaces.

    economic crisis

    ReplyDelete
  22. In Poland it's not so bad like in Spain, but in 2 - 3 years - who know? Today you don't have nice view on your future without knowing someone "powerful" - alone, after humanistic studies, without experience in job it's very hard to find well (or even fair) paid job. The only way to live on good attitude shortly after studies is going abroad. Or finishing informatic studies or some of technical ones.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I think there is a lot of young people in poland which are studying but our labor market have nothing to offer.

    Almost in every job the experience is very highly rated, but how to gain experience when nobady want's to hire you? Also, there are very low salary for fresh graduate.

    I think that government should reduce some of the studies, because we are producting people for job which is rare to have. Also employer should have more trust in young people and pay them more.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Do you see similarities between unemployment in Spain and in Poland? What do you think the Spanish government should do to change this situation?
    No, I don't see similarities between unemployment in Spain and in Poland. I think spanish politicians overinvested and they didn't expect economical crisis. In Poland we have a lot of educated people and there still is no well paid job for them. Unemployment in Poland is not high, but salaries are pathetic comparing to spain. I don't know what is worse.
    I don't know what spanish government should do. It is a hard situation. They cannot invest to awake the marekt, 'cause they overinvested.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I made $20 for a 20 minute survey!

    Guess what? This is exactly what large companies are paying for. They need to know what their average customer needs and wants. So large companies pay millions of dollars per month to the average person. In return, the average person, myself included, answers some questions and gives them their opinion.

    ReplyDelete
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