Recent labor reforms have not culled duplicate jobs in the Spanish jobs sector, which continues to divide workers into two sides: those who have full-time contracts and those that work temporary assignments. The latter are almost always the first let go when companies have to fire people.
This status quo protects full-time workers and prevents temporary labor from getting necessary training. Among young workers, there is also a big difference between the few who have been well-prepared (many of them have left Spain to find jobs) and the many that lack training and have suffered from long-term unemployment. The country's ability to compete globally and domestically depends on better training of young workers. The EU is urging the government to fix the educational differences between full- and part-time workers. There are alternatives yet to be put in place such as creating just one type of labor contract with the same severance conditions, lower firing costs and indefinite end date. This is the way to eliminate redundancy. But it is also necessary to incentive jobless workers to go out and search for a job. Two years out of the workplace is excessive. Economists agree that two years of unemployment benefits creates a negative incentive, so it is best to promote policies that encourage people to actively search for work.
The government cannot ignore six million unemployed workers. Ramping up the country's labor reforms is the way to boost jobs. These notion should go before technocratic number crunching. Rajoy can't afford to waste any more time and should not give in to the temptation to slow down or end the reform process.
