Economic crises, labour reforms and employment: the Spanish case

Abstract

Economic crises, labour reforms and employment:the Spanish case Nunzia Castelli (bio) There is no doubt that we have been living in a situation of 'permanent exceptionality'1 for several years now. In little more than a decade, extraordinary and/or global events have taken place that have had a substantial impact on economic and social relations at all levels2. Spain has not been left out of these phenomena that have had repercussions on the country, acquiring the specificities derived from the characteristics of the national context. Among them, one of the most outstanding has always been the special sensitivity of employment to the recessive economic phases of the national economy. Thus, the main and most immediate consequence of the different economic crises that have shaken the system throughout recent decades has traditionally been both the activation of an intense -and not comparable with the other EU member countries-process of employment contraction3, as well as an exponential increase in unemployment, which reached its peak in the first quarter of 2013 with more than six million unemployed (practically 27 percent of the population)4. The high level of fluctuation in employment in relation to variations in GDP and the equally high 'job creation threshold' -understood as the increase in national wealth capable of generating employment-are therefore specific characteristics of the Spanish context5. It is also characterised by presenting a marked level of dualisation of the labour market with rates of temporary employment and rotation in employment that have always been well above the European average6. These specific characteristics of the Spanish context have marked the economic and social evolution of the country from the very configuration of the democratic model of labour relations7. This has represented a burden for the political, social and economic development of the Country since it has reacted to the different economic shocks mainly by unloading the weight of the adjustment on employment and, therefore, on the working class. Spain has been shaken by economic crises: in 2013 unemployment peaked at more than six million (practically 27 percent of the population) The re-orientation of public policies towards the postulates of the neoliberal aspect of global capitalism has also contributed to this, which, since the 1980s, has pushed for an increasingly insistent 'blaming of labour rights' both from sources legal and conventional8. Hence, the different reforms of the regulatory framework that have occurred since the early 1980s, and which have intensified during periods of crisis, have always passed, although with variable intensity, around the objectives of flexibility, deregulation, or re-regulation calibrated solely on the promotion of business interests of productivity and competitiveness via the reduction of labour costs9. The cycle of reforms undertaken between 2010 and 2013 represents the clearest manifestation of this, with the 2012 reform being the one that has undoubtedly had the greatest impact on the democratic structuring of labour relations in the country10. The paradigm shift: the labour reform of December 2021 Regarding the model summarily described above, the current Legislature presents significant peculiarities11. The response to the crisis derived from the pandemic has been addressed from the perspective of protecting employment and the productive fabric, with a series of measures-this time all agreed within the framework of social dialogue-that have privileged the maintenance of employment over its destruction, have sustained the economic sectors most affected by the consequences of the health crisis, and have reinforced the coverage and quality of social benefits. An attempt has also been made to remedy some of the main weaknesses and dysfunctions of the Spanish model of labour relations (high volatility of employment, rates of temporary employment and job rotation well above the European average, strong gender inequality, low coverage and quality of social protection...) and to adapt it to the changes produced by the irruption of digitalisation, through regulatory interventions aimed at modernising the labour market and the social protection system. The important reform of the labour market (approved with RD-Law 32/2021, of 28 December 2021) has also moved in this direction. The reform has been described as 'historic' insofar as it has been the first major regulatory change in...