Fátima Báñez says at the OECD that the Government's priority is to boost the recovery "so that no one is left behind"

She pointed out that the Government is working to ensure that this growth results in opportunities for everyone. "We are working every day against the clock to ensure that no one is left behind in the recovery," she explained.

The Minister thanked the Secretary-General of the OECD, Ángel Gurría, congratulating him for revalidating his post in the organisation, and his "tireless" support of the reform strategy undertaken by Spain to face the crisis.

For his part, Ángel Gurría appreciated that the Spanish Government "did not hesitate in taking decisive action." "Minister Báñez was not only strong in implementing the labour reform: she asked for an independent OECD report to evaluate its effectiveness," he recalled.

He pointed out that once the Spanish economy has returned to economic growth, "it is clear that the reforms are providing results; they are leading to the creation of jobs with lower growth rates" than was necessary before.

"Today we can say that 434,000 jobs were created in 2014 and 600,000 jobs are expected to be created in 2105. Today one in two new jobs in the Eurozone is created in Spain," said Gurría. "The reforms have contributed to the creation of permanent jobs," he stressed.

At the same time, he agreed with Fátima Báñez that "we have to ensure that the incipient recovery does not leave anyone behind in terms of social protection."

Recovery with solid foundations

The Minister took part in a seminar organised by the OECD on Spanish example. She highlighted that the structural reforms implemented by the Government represented an about turn with respect to the previous policies and have allowed the imbalances to be tackled with a strategy based on fiscal consolidation, reform of the financial system and reforms to boost competitiveness.
Thanks to this roadmap, employment began to improve vigorously as soon as recovery kicked in, whereas before it was estimated that Spain needed to grow above 2% or 2.5% to create jobs.

She explained that the Government estimates Spain will create 1 million jobs between 2014 and 2015, and that in the upcoming years the number of people registered in the Social Security system will reach 20 million.

In addition, Fátima Báñez has pointed to the strong increase in indefinite employment contracts starting in 2104, which has continued into 2015 with rates of more than 20%.

She also stressed that the Government is realistic in terms of the current situation of the Spanish economy and employment. "We're clear that we are on the right path, but there is still a long way to go." She noted the importance of political stability for achieving this objective and for continuing to boost recovery.

Fátima Báñez recalled that the crisis which began in 2007 highlighted a large number of problems that had to be tackled with structural rather than temporary measures so that the path of Spanish recovery would again be sustainable.

In the area of employment and Social Security the basic challenges are transformation of Spanish labour relations to improve workers' protection and to overcome the excessive segmentation in the labour market. This greater strength should be complemented with quality employment services, the fight against fraud and actions aimed at dealing with the challenges of an aging population.

Labour-market regulation

The labour reform of 2012 had the aim of halting job destruction during the second phase of the recession. It has allowed a return to job creation from the start of the recovery, based on limited growth rates, when before it was estimated that Spain needed to grow above 2% or 2.5%.

With this objective, it boosted a new culture of employment based on the model of internal flexibility, so that redundancy was always the last resort; coupled with a more dynamic form of collective bargaining.

This has been accompanied by measures designed to boost indefinite employment contracts. Over the last year Spain has created more than half a million jobs and has reduced its unemployment rate by more than two points.

Active ageing and the sustainability of pensions

In 2011 Spain adopted an in-depth reform in this area which, however, did not end up solving the problems of sustainability. That is why in recent years other structural changes have been introduced "which have converted the system not only into one of the most sustainable, but the system with perhaps the most advanced regulation in the world."

First, a reform of early and partial retirement was approved, together with rules to make work compatible with receiving a pension, and incentives were established to prolong active life.

Next, the pillars for medium and long-term sustainability of the pension system were established with the introduction of the sustainability factor and the pension increase index.

The sustainability factor of the Social Security system was a result of the proposal by a committee of independent experts who reached an agreement that guaranteed its technical rigour within a framework of consensus. The factor will be applied as of 2019 and link the amount of the pension to changes in life expectancy.

The balance of the system in the long term has also been assured with the pension increase index which has been applied since 2015 and links the annual changes in the amount of pensions to the financial situation of the Social Security System.

Activation policies for employment

The Government has undertaken a profound transformation of employment policies in Spain. Among its essential objectives are coordination between administrations, gearing policies towards results and their continuous evaluation.

To do so the new Spanish Activation for Employment Strategy has been approved. This makes progress in modernising the public employment services, improving personalised service for the unemployed.

At the same time, the PREPARA Programme has been extended and a new extraordinary Programme for activation of the long-term unemployed with family responsibilities and with no incomes has been introduced. The programme is a real "fast-track plan" to guarantee that this group can enter the labour market.

Within this framework, the Minister has also highlighted the implementation of programmes such as the Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment Strategy and the implementation of the Youth Guarantee. These measures already benefit more than 400,000 young people.

At the same time, there has been a change in the system of training for employment designed to turn it into a tool that can really boost workers' employability. There has also been a firm commitment to dual training. "Better training means better employability" explained Fátima Báñez.

Fighting fraud and the black economy

"Guaranteeing the rights of workers and guaranteeing the sustainability of the Welfare State has to include an uncompromising attitude to labour fraud," explained the Minister.

In this area the reforms introduced have focused on toughening the penalty system, reorganising available resources to increase their effectiveness and following a well defined and perfectly coordinated strategy with action by other branches of the administration, such as the police, judges and the tax authorities.