Speech by President of the Government at inauguration of seminar on "Self-Employment and the Social Economy as Drivers of Jobs"

Madam Minister, Members of the Board, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,

It gives me great pleasure to be here today, as indeed it always does, with representatives of associations of the self-employed and the social economy in Spain. I have had the opportunity to speak with you on various occasions, both as Leader of the Opposition, and subsequently, as President of the Government, but today is particularly important because the tremendous contribution from the self-employed and the social economy to the recovery of the Spanish economy is patently clear.

I say this because we have just seen the recorded unemployment and social security affiliation figures for the month of May, and they are figures that show that the recovery of the Spanish economy is not temporary, but structural. We have now enjoyed 22 straight months of job creation in our country and today, above all, the most important thing is that the self-employed and companies engaged in the social economy have once again shown that they are the true drivers of the volte-face of the Spanish economy in recent times.

Since the start of this term of office, and with the figures that have just been announced, the work of the self-employed has contributed to the creation of almost 215,000 jobs: 96,702 self-employed and another 118,000 individuals hired by the self-employed.

I want to thank you all for these figures, for your hard work and dynamic impetus, for your commitment and the drive you have shown throughout this entire period. Be absolutely sure that you are essential for the continuation of the recovery of the Spanish economy in the coming years. For that reason, I wish to urge you on in your future endeavours.

The major goal must be to reach the figure of 20 million people in work. In 2019, we will see the results of the full recovery and I believe that this can be achieved. We want to do this. I believe that this is necessary because it is fundamental to create jobs in our country; firstly, for the people, so that they can push forward with their own life project; and secondly, because it is fundamental for many people to be working in Spain to maintain the core pillars of the Welfare State. Whoever is in work is maintaining the pension system through their contributions and if many are working this system can be improved even further, and whoever is working, by paying taxes, helps maintain public healthcare, education, social services and all those expenses of the public authorities as a whole which, in the end, contribute to improving the well-being and wealth of all our people.

Finally, I also want to say to you that we can achieve this. We have shown that we are a great country. We have gone through a crisis of considerable proportions; but Spain, despite this, will head up growth in 2015 according to the figures that were announced by the European Commission a short time ago. Spain is the country that will create the most jobs in the Eurozone this year and this country has shown that it is capable of initiating a process of economic recovery and of overcoming a very severe crisis such as the one we have been through, the worst in decades, while maintaining the core pillars of the Welfare State.

Hence, the goal must be to reach 20 million people in work by the end of the next term of office. This month of May has been a month in which a very important step has been taken in the right direction: 213,000 Spaniards have found a job. The social security system has recovered more than one million contributors since February 2013, which was the lowest level of contributors seen. The number of people registered at the unemployment offices has fallen by 117,000 this month and permanent employment has increased by 15% in the year to date.

So, this is important; this is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, but this must only serve to push us on to contribute working with determination, with courage and with a drive to achieve our goals, which is for economic growth to convert to more jobs for everyone; and the second main goal, which is for the economic recovery to be felt in all households in our country, and particularly, all those households in which the crisis has left a trail of suffering in its wake.

Hence, that is the challenge, at least in my opinion, as President of the Government for the next four years and to do that, we need you all to help.

It is good for us to be aware that not everything has been done yet, far from it; we should not forget that three years ago this country was on the verge of bankruptcy and of a bailout, and that it has been necessary to make a great effort. Many structural reforms have been undertaken, many of which were unpopular with a lot of people; others were backed by many people, and we have had to make a great effort at fiscal consolidation. But there are still many things to do. There are more than four million people still out of work and, as I have pointed out on countless occasions, the challenge is for them to find work in the future.

To this end, it is not only important to have a reformist economic policy and a fiscal consolidation policy, but also to take specific measures in relation to certain groups of people who undoubtedly contribute, and must contribute even more, to help consolidate this recovery in the future.

I believe that we have worked well together during this term of office and I believe that together we have taken measures that are important and that have produced results, such as all the measures to foster self-employment and the creation of new companies and bodies in the social economy. The 'flat-rate' national insurance contribution of 50 euros and the discounts of up to 1,750 euros for the incorporation of partners in cooperative and worker-owned companies have undoubtedly been very effective.

Measures have also been taken so that the self-employed could maintain their economic activity. I believe that the Supplier Payment Plan has been a decision that has served to save many people, which was only right because they were people who, quite simply, only had a problem because the public authorities were not paying them. The reduction in fiscal pressure on the self-employed has also been significant, starting with those on the lowest incomes, and also the measures to improve social protection and legal certainty for the self-employed.

We have taken an important step in facilitating the self-employed with easier access to unemployment benefits, the 'second-chance' mechanism has been approved and we have implemented measures to take steps to reconcile the personal and working lives of the self-employed.

But, at any event, that is all in the past and what is important now is looking to the future. We will now organise a session to further analyse the three latest draft laws submitted to Parliament to facilitate self-employment and the social economy. I refer to the Draft Law to Boost and Promote Self-Employment and the Social Economy, the Draft Law on Labour-Owned Companies and Investees, and the Bill to reform the System of Vocational Training for employment at a labour level, which is in its passage through Parliament and in regard to which we are interested, as you would expect, in your opinions, criteria and anything else that can serve to improve the employment situation in our country.

Ladies and gentlemen,

At the start of my speech I declared that the main goal for the next four years is to see 20 million people in work in Spain. We would then be able to talk about a full recovery. I believe that we should also set goals in terms of the self-employed and I think that the number of national insurance contributors should grow by 550,000 between 2015 and 2019, a figure that will allow us to hit the figure of 3.6 million people under the Special Regime for the Self-Employed, thus beating the record set in 2008 of 3.4 million.

I am absolutely convinced that this can all be achieved and that this is not something related simply to the government, or a specific regional government or local authority; this is something absolutely related to the whole of Spanish society: workers, companies - large, medium and small companies - the self-employed and, of course, a sound economic policy that contributes to generating the right conditions to achieve all of this.

I repeat, we have gone through a very tough and complicated period in our country. We have gone through the worst economic crisis in decades. Spain spent various years with negative economic growth. We spent six and half years shedding jobs from one day to the next. Things have started to change but there is still a long way to go. There are still many Spaniards who cannot find a job and there are still a great many people in difficulties, but I would once again point out that although the situation is not great, the first decisive steps forward have been taken and, if we persevere, I believe we can achieve this.

This year, Spain, as I said earlier, will be the European Union country to enjoy the greatest economic growth - 2.8%, according to the European Commission; 2.9%, according to the Government of Spain, and up to 3.5% according to the analysts of certain institutions, both Spanish and foreign. But the most important thing is that this goes hand-in-hand with job creation.

The month of April was an excellent month for the social security system: 170,000 more national insurance contributors; this month of May has also been excellent but, I repeat, this only serves to spur us on to continue working and to continue driving forward with the maximum determination. I believe that this is the main obligation for Spanish society as a whole and I am absolutely convinced, as figures such as today's clearly show, that this can be achieved.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you very much, not only for coming here today, but for everything you have done during this term of office, because you have contributed many ideas and your knowledge and experience to this government, which have undoubtedly been useful to us.

Thank you very much.