Government approves Annual Employment Policy Plan 2016

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

The acting Minister for Employment and Social Security, Fátima Báñez, highlighted that the Annual Employment Policy Plan (Spanish acronym: PAPE) establishes the targets to be met this year for Spain as a whole and in each one of the autonomous regions in this field as agreed at the sector conference held back on 18 April.

The plan, she pointed out, is aimed at improving the employability of young people and of those groups with the greatest difficulties in gaining access to the labour market, such as the long-term unemployed. It also improves the quality of vocational training for employment, ties in active and passive employment policies and boosts entrepreneurship.

Fátima Báñez specified that the government has allocated a total of 5.27 billion euros to the plan, with the regional governments receiving 1.8 billion, 386 million higher than last year. The rest will be directly allocated by the government.

The minister stated that the main cornerstones of the actions to be taken are career guidance, training and employment opportunities (amounting to 92% of the funds), as well as equal opportunities in access to the labour market, entrepreneurship and the institutional framework of the National Employment System.

The minister recalled that the government allocated 28.5 billion euros to active employment policies and 115 billion to passive policies in the first phase of the crisis between 2008 and 2011.

250 million euros for training plans

Pool Moncloa/J.M. CuadradoThe government authorised a call for proposals from the State Public Employment Service (Spanish acronym: SEPE) to grant public subsidies to training plans at a State level, primarily aimed at those in work.

Fátima Báñez stressed that this "is the first call for proposals for State subsidies open exclusively on a competitive basis of award for training institutions in our country".

This call for proposals, with a budget provision of 250 million euros for 2016 and 2017 prioritises training in areas related to digitalisation and communication technologies, the internationalisation of companies, entrepreneurship and energy efficiency. "We are prioritising those sectors and employment niches which will be most in demand over the course of this year and the next by companies in our labour market", pointed out the minister.

Fátima Báñez added that "the aim is clear": to improve the employability of workers and hence, make our companies more competitive in an increasingly global world". She also highlighted that, for the first time, when the funds for the year are not exhausted in full they will be incorporated in the call for proposals for the following year.

Employment results

Pool Moncloa/J.M. CuadradoFátima Báñez took stock of the employment results obtained over recent years. "Spain's economic recovery is very labour orientated at present. All the economic growth is translating into job creation and thanks to the supportive efforts from the whole of Spanish society, we have recovered half of the jobs shed during the crisis", she said.

In this regard, the minister underlined that unemployment is "falling rapidly" with 739,298 fewer unemployed than in December 2011 and "jobs are being created at a fast rate". Moreover, she pointed out that unemployment fell by 83,993 in July on the previous month, the largest decline in a month of July since 1997. She also pointed out that unemployment stands at the lowest level since August 2009, to stand at 3,683,061 unemployed.

Fátima Bañez highlighted that average affiliation to the Social Security system stood at 17,844,992 contributors in July, and has now recovered 50.7% of the more than 3.3 million jobs shed during the crisis". She also stressed that three quarters of these people are on a permanent employment contract and that less than 1% of workers are on a contract with a duration of less than one month.

According to the figures provided by the minister, between January and July this year, almost 1 million contracts have been signed, the best figure recorded in the last eight years. "We must continue working but we must also value the efforts being made by both companies and workers in Spain since we exited the crisis", she concluded.

Grants for 2016/2017

Pool Moncloa/J.M. CuadradoThe Council of Ministers authorised the modification to the budget limits set in order to immediately offer a round of grants on a general basis for the academic year 2016-2017, aimed at students taking post-compulsory studies.

The acting Vice-President of the Government, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, recalled that the offer for grants includes a new feature whereby students that wish to change studies can continue to receive a grant; it also updates the coverage to those from rural communities.

She also recalled that in the last academic year, "the number of students to benefit from a grant rose considerably both for university and non-university students". In the academic year 2015/2016, the highest number of beneficiaries ever was recorded in terms of general grants, as well as the highest number of grants for students with special educational support needs, amounting to 95,381students.

Subsidies for young researchers and centres of excellence

Pool Moncloa/J.M. CuadradoThe Council of Ministers authorised the State Research Agency to put out two calls for proposals to boost the recruitment of young talent and to strengthen institutions, for a total sum of close on 140 million euros.

The Vice-President of the Government specified that more than 97 million euros will be allocated so that universities, public research bodies and other public and private centres can hire a maximum of 1,048 pre-doctorate researchers over a period of four years. "These subsidies are offered to trainee researchers and allow them to write a dissertation related to a specific research project", she said.

According to Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, this round of subsidies is "an absolute priority for promoting young talent", and hence the provision has been increased each year.

The government will also allocate 40 million euros to the "Severo Ochoa" and "María de Maeztu" centres and units of excellence. These centres receive a high percentage of the funding under the European "Horizon 2020" programme and are the most economically profitable due to their commitment to innovation and their close ties to companies.

On another note, the Council of Ministers approved the Agreement to Implement Phase 1 (Definition Phase) of the "European Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance Unmanned Aerial System" programme.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría reported that "the programme responds to the operational needs of the armed forces to obtain an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capacity based on an unmanned aerial system that supports operations both within and beyond national territory".

Current affairs

Pool Moncloa/J.M. Cuadrado

When asked about the possibility of the acting government working on drawing up the spending cap and the General State Budget for 2017, the Vice-President of the Government pointed out that setting the spending cap is the first step in drawing up the public accounts and that "the law is clear" that a acting government cannot approve a new budget. For that reason, she insisted that it is necessary to have a government that can do things "without any doubts surrounding their legality".

Furthermore, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría called for shared and joint responsibility "at this crucial time for democracy in Spain" from the "pro-Constitution and moderate political parties, which have had, or aspire to have, responsibilities for governing".

As regards potential meetings of President of the Government Rajoy with leaders of the different political forces, the Government Spokesperson stressed that it is the government's intention to continue working and exchanging information.

As regards the setting of a date to hold the investiture debate, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría reiterated that it is the date of the agreement that counts and not the date of the debate. "If an agreement is reached, the date will be imminent", she said.

Moreover, the Government Spokesperson reported that the government intends to tackle a second edition of the Programme to Reform the Public Administration Services, a task which, "is in a process of constant revision", because streamlining and modernising the public administration is an "ongoing" process.