New realities of European labour market. Focus on Spain

Abstract

The European labour market, being an integral part of the global one, is currently under the influence of cyclical macroeconomic trends when periods of positive growth are replaced by crises and economic recessions. The instability of the European economy during the protracted crisis, which started in 2008, led to the labour market slack, an increase in unemployment and the spread of nonstandard forms of employment. The post crisis period defined as the “new norm” and used to describe the socio-economic impact of the global recession, turned out to be short to stabilize working sectors: in early 2020 the world was struck down by the COVID-19 pandemic which caused unprecedented and widespread job loss. Countries of Southern Europe, including Spain, were among the most deeply affected. By using the Iberian case, the author tries to show the main patterns of employment situation during the pandemic and analyze the steps taken by the Spanish government to prevent further employment decline. To reduce unemployment and preserve jobs, Spain, following its neighbors’ model, introduced a shortterm underemployment regime (ERTE) which implies a temporary suspension of labour contracts. These measures had certain results; however, a cross-country analysis reveals their lower efficiency in comparison with the achievements in the states of the center and north of Europe. Spanish employment sector is predicted to recover slowly. The future will show how successful these initiatives of the Spanish government will be. However, on this path, a greater political consensus should be achieved.