Spain tops EU unemployment as 41% of registered jobseekers go uncounted
41% of people registered at Spanish employment offices do not count in the official unemployment figures. Spain leads the EU in real unemployment despite the statistical makeover.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Spain keeps its lead in EU unemployment, but the official figure hides four out of every ten real jobless.
The latest Eurostat statistics once again place Spain at the top of unemployment in the European Union. Yet the gap between those officially registered and those looking for work without appearing on the lists keeps growing. An article by El Economista reveals that 41% of those registered at employment offices fall outside the counted unemployment figures. In other words: the number the Government boasts about is barely half of the real one.
Behind the statistical makeover lies a reality many workers know well: fixed-term discontinuous contracts (permanent contracts with intermittent work), jobs that switch on and off at the employer's whim, inflate employment figures while those who endure them go months without paying social security contributions or receiving pay. Add to this the labour dumping denounced by Esade, with wages that do not even cover the basics. The equation is simple: low wages + temporary work + mass immigration = structural precarity. And in that scenario, official unemployment falling does not miccionan people are living better.
Social security affiliation data and the EPA (Spain's labour force survey) gloss over a reality that has dragged on for decades. The question is not why Spain leads unemployment, but why we keep swallowing an official narrative that hides the fact that working no longer pays off.
Related debates in the forum
The latest Eurostat statistics once again place Spain at the top of unemployment in the European Union. Yet the gap between those officially registered and those looking for work without appearing on the lists keeps growing. An article by El Economista reveals that 41% of those registered at employment offices fall outside the counted unemployment figures. In other words: the number the Government boasts about is barely half of the real one.
Behind the statistical makeover lies a reality many workers know well: fixed-term discontinuous contracts (permanent contracts with intermittent work), jobs that switch on and off at the employer's whim, inflate employment figures while those who endure them go months without paying social security contributions or receiving pay. Add to this the labour dumping denounced by Esade, with wages that do not even cover the basics. The equation is simple: low wages + temporary work + mass immigration = structural precarity. And in that scenario, official unemployment falling does not miccionan people are living better.
Social security affiliation data and the EPA (Spain's labour force survey) gloss over a reality that has dragged on for decades. The question is not why Spain leads unemployment, but why we keep swallowing an official narrative that hides the fact that working no longer pays off.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (19 replies).
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