Temporary employment, employment, high share, OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, labour force, Spain, economic growth, globalization, flexibility, youth employment, unemployment, temporary contract, young labour force, regulatory policy, social protection, unemployment benefits, distributive policy, standard of living
Temporary employment is an important issue in Spain regarding the high share of workers engaged only for a specific period of time. Indeed, according to OECD data, Spain has one of the highest rates of temporary employment among the labour force (aged between 15-65 years): 1 out of 4 dependents employed are hired under a temporary contract. This situation is even worse among the young labour force (aged 15-24 years): about 2 out of 3 young dependents employed are hired under a temporary contract. A priori, a high rate of temporary employment should be a positive point to the economy because it should highlight an important economic growth, needing more workers to face up to demand. However, the fact remains that temporary employment is a problem for workers when it is involuntary, meaning that workers want to work more but cannot find a contract to do so.
[...] For all these reasons, I recommend lowering the 360-day requirement to 180 days for this category, but also limiting the number of temporary employment renewal, in order to encourage permanent jobs. Especially because these contracts are more flexible with the latest labour law. In this way, young employees can more easily claim unemployment benefits and employers cannot abuse of temporary contracts. However, the risks of these measures may be the substitution of temporary workers to avoid the limit of a temporary contract, and also a loss of skill for workers who are unemployed because they can have access more easily to unemployment benefits. [...]
[...] Moreover, the Spanish government may also set up a youth program to encourage young people to improve their skills, regarding the high share of temporary employment among this category. Recommendations As I said before, temporary unemployment is not unfavourable every time, especially in times of globalization which imposes competitiveness and flexibility. In this way, regulating temporary employment should balance security for workers, on one hand, and flexibility for employers to face up to demand variation, on the other hand. That is why, I highly recommend to the Spanish Minister to focus on a regulatory policy, aiming at reforming unemployment benefits requirements. [...]
[...] The High Share of Temporary Employment in Spain Temporary employment is an important issue in Spain regarding the high share of workers engaged only for a specific period of time. Indeed, according to OECD data, Spain has one of the highest rates of temporary employment among the labour force (aged between 15 - 65 years): 1 out of 4 dependents employed are hired under a temporary contract. This situation is even worse among the young labour force (aged 15 - 24 years): about 2 out of 3 young dependents employed are hired under a temporary contract. [...]
[...] For example, by limiting the number of temporary employments in the same firm to avoid the substitution of permanent work by a series of temporary employment, but also by increasing the social protection of temporary employment in order to reduce the "regulatory gap." Fighting temporary employment means also to renew unemployment benefit requirements because only workers who have contributed at least 360 days in the past 6 years, can claim unemployment benefits. On the other hand, the Spanish government can also adopt a distributive policy, aiming at improving temporary employed conditions and standard of living. [...]
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