"From causing half the unemployment in Europe we are now creating half the jobs", says Mariano Rajoy

Palace Hotel, Madrid

At the start of his speech, Mariano Rajoy stressed that "creating more and better quality jobs" has been the overarching goal of his term in office, and that it would be so for his next as well. According to the President of the Government, the EPA figures for the second quarter of 2015 show that the 180-degree turnaround in the labour market of which signs began to be seen a year ago is not "circumstantial" but "structural" .

The President of the Government admitted that "changing the ship's course" has been an "extraordinarily difficult" task because two "major crises" had to be overcome: a financial crisis and a debt crisis. As well as avoiding a bailout, "a major effort had to be made in fiscal consolidation and to pass structural reforms" and to "correct the imbalances in order to improve competitiveness and grow"; while, at the same time, maintaining "the pillars of the Welfare State".

Further, he explained that "whereas in 2014 we confirmed that we were on the right track, in 2015 we have seen that we are moving forward increasingly quickly". He explained that today's EPA figures "show excellent results, with strong job creation and a fall in unemployment".

Job creation is "cross-cutting"

Pool MoncloaThe total number of people in employment increased by 411.800 in the second quarter on the first quarter of 2015. In year-on-year terms, employment has grown by 513,000; the number of full-time employment contracts has grown by 430,000 and part-time contracts by 18,000. Another point highlighted by the President of the Government is the increase in the active population by 116,000, as this shows that "job creation is creating the effect of activating the population".

According to the President of the Government, "the unemployment figures are also positive" because the number of unemployed fell in the second quarter by 295,600. In year-on-year terms, the fall in unemployment was 433,900. The number of households where all members work increased by nearly 400,000 on the previous quarter.
Mariano Rajoy also positively valued the fact that the change in the labour market is "cross-cutting", as it "affects all the economic sectors, all the provinces of Spain, all groups and all age segments". He highlighted that the recovery in employment is also reaching young people: employment among people aged under 25 is growing at a rate of 7%. He offered another figure that "should make us proud as a society: 200,000 job contracts were concluded in 2014 with people with disabilities", more than ever before".

The EPA figures are the best since records began

Pool MoncloaMariano Rajoy noted that the EPA figures "are the best employment figures since these records began". He added that "never in the history of the Spanish economy, never before have so many jobs been created in a single quarter". So, "today we can now say that there are more people in the Social Security system than in December 2011, and that there are fewer people unemployed and more people in work".
"From causing half the unemployment in Europe, we are now creating half the jobs", he added. "This change is important, and it is a change with a social resonance that affects real people you can put a name to".

However, "being on the right track does not mean we can allow ourselves to lose our grip", he said, as there are still many Spanish people and many families that are having a very hard time; and the Government "is neither aloof nor impassive" in this respect.

Mariano Rajoy repeated that the goal is to have 20 million people in work. The only way to do so is to continue along the path of reforms, because "one set of policies is not the same as another" "In his opinion, "it is still a time for being serious and for reforms, and not for counter-reforms or trips down memory lane".

Tax cuts will continue

Pool MoncloaThe President of the Government also referred to the tax reform. He explained that the "financial asphyxiation" when his Government entered office obliged it to raise income tax.

However, this tax was cut in January 2015 and has been cut again on 1 July, by bringing forward the tax cuts planned for 2016. This move will inject an additional 1.5 billion euros into the Spanish economy this year. "The immense majority of taxpayers will pay less at the end of 2015 than in 2011", he added.

"We have cut taxes when it was possible", he said, because this also "helps create jobs". He added that "to the extent that revenues and deficit control allow it, we will cut taxes again".

"Spain's future depends on training"

Mariano Rajoy gave over the final part of his speech to training. He explained that Spain's future depends on this area because "it allows an improvement in everyone's job expectations and also their wages" and because it serves to increase the competitiveness of companies and guarantees equal opportunities.

The President of the Government said that "training now forms part of the individual worker's rights" as included in the labour reform. He praised the reforms that have been undertaken in this area, as in the case of the successful implementation of the dual vocational training model. "Since the labour reform of 2012 to May 2015, a total of 386,936 young people have begun dual training through training and apprenticeship contracts".

Visit to the Tomillo Foundation

Pool MoncloaAfter attending the "La Razón del Empleo" employment forum, the President of the Government visited the headquarters of the Tomillo Foundation, located in the Madrid neighbourhood of Usera. It is an organisation that works for the personal development and social integration of the most vulnerable groups and individuals through education and improved employability.

Mariano Rajoy presented the president of the Foundation, Carmen García Andrés, with the seal for Strategy for Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment for its programmes for social insertion through employment.

At this centre, Mariano Rajoy insisted on the importance of training. "The better the qualifications, the better the training, the more possibilities there are of finding a job and the more possibilities there are of finding a good job".
He said that employment is "key for people's lives and for a country" because if you have a job you can plan your life, you pay into the Social Security system and support pensions, and you also pay taxes, consume and support education and health. "That is the key, and that is what creates the machinery that drives social coexistence", he said.

He pointed out that "it is not only government that does things, but the whole of society". He explained that the government "does not create jobs", but that jobs are created by companies. "What a government does, or what it should do, is generate the conditions for people, for society, to create companies, and thus create jobs".