Mariano Rajoy stresses that unemployment figures for April show "the largest reduction in recorded unemployment" in any month on record

Eurobuilding Hotel, Madrid

After referring to the serious economic crisis that Spain went through in recent years, the President of the Government highlighted that "things are very different" now; before "there was a recession" while "Spain is now the country with the fastest rate of growth of the main European economies".

Record number of National Insurance contributors

According to the President of the Government, the unemployment figures for April "are truly encouraging" because "unemployment has fallen" and because "this is the largest fall in recorded unemployment in any month on record". He added that "if we do things well, we could see many very good unemployment figures over the course of the coming months and years".

Furthermore, not only "do we have the lowest unemployment rate for the last eight years", continued Mariano Rajoy, but the social security figures "are also wonderful": in April, there were 212,000 new contributors and, in year-on-year terms, 658,387 more contributors. The President of the Government stressed that these are "very positive" figures since, for the first time since 2009, the social security system now has more than 18 million contributors.

Maintain fiscal consolidation and reforms

Pool Moncloa/Diego CrespoThe President of the Government underlined that the Spanish economy will grow this year by "at least" 2.7% and the forecasts for the next four years show average growth of around 2.5%, in addition to the creation of some 500,000 jobs a year.

In this regard, Mariano Rajoy explained that, in order to achieve these goals, it is necessary, in the first place, "to continue with fiscal consolidation policies", since "when the deficit is low" more jobs are created, more resources are available and the levels of wealth and well-being rise". This year, 2017, Spain must meet the public deficit target set at 3.1%.

The President of the Government stated that, furthermore, "we must maintain the reforms undertaken in recent years", which have worked, and continue with this process, although he acknowledged that "it is harder now because we must constantly forge pacts".

Spain, country of talent and opportunities

In response to the title of the conference "Can Spain compete in talent?", organised by the Association for Progress in Management, Mariano Rajoy stressed that Spain can indeed "compete in talent" because is has people "with commitment, determination, drive and effort that have known how to make Spain what it is today", one of the "most important nations in the world" and "a country of opportunities".

In this regard, he recalled, among other things, that Spain is one of the leading countries both in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and per capita income. Furthermore, he added, it has a welfare model "that few countries can boast of", it is the second largest global power in tourism (in 2016, there were 75 million inbound tourists) and Spanish investment overseas represents 46% of Spanish GDP.

Before closing, the President of the Government mentioned education, where not only are languages, knowledge and new technology all important, but also "strength" and "talent".