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Positive employment figures tinged by doubts

The Christmas campaign has contributed towards positive figures in regard to the number of registered unemployed at the close of 2016. According to the Ministry of Employment and Social Security, the number of registered unemployed as of December 31 was 453,645 people, 12.03% less than the same date in 2015. That is a drop of more than 62,000, the highest recorded since 1996. However, despite the statistically positive result, a number of experts in labour affairs warn of the quality of the jobs that are being generated.

The Catalan minister of labour Dolors Bassa, was not convinced by the euphoria regarding the fall and when she appeared yesterday to assess the figures, emphasised instead the existence of “working poor” who accept jobs which are often underpaid, overworked, temporary and with precarious contractual conditions. “If 2016 was a year of improvement in the quantity, in 2017 it should be the improvement of the quality,” Bassa said.

Unions were also critical of the precarious nature of contracts and statistics back those doubts. Although permanent contracts increased more than 15% against 8.5% in 2015, in December, there were 224,851 contracts (of note, 15.43% less than in November), with the vast majority, 198,538, being temporary.

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