Spain’s official population fell last year for the first time since records began as immigrants fled a five-year on-and-off recession that has sent unemployment soaring. The number of residents fell by 206,000 to 47.1 million, the National Statistics Institute said on Monday, a figure entirely accounted for by the fall in the number of registered … Continue reading
Thousands of workers facing pay and job cuts at loss-making Spanish airline Iberia on Monday staged a second wave of protests that could ground nearly 1,300 flights this week. Iberia, part of International Airlines Group (ICAG.L), is battling competition from low-cost airlines and high-speed trains as well as a deep recession in Spain, where one … Continue reading
CAIXABANK, Spain’s biggest bank as measured by assets under management, plans to slash around 3,000 jobs as part of a restructuring. The Barcelona-based bank said the restructuring was needed following the purchase of smaller rivals Banca Civica and Banco de Valencia, which has caused its staffing levels to soar. “The implementation of this restructuring will … Continue reading
Mobile phone operator Vodafone (VOD.L) said it had reached agreement with labor unions to lay off 620 workers at its recession-hit Spanish unit, adding to a list of job cuts in Spain’s hard-hit economy. Many companies in Spain, where the unemployment rate already stands at 26 percent, are laying off staff to cut costs. The … Continue reading
Children across Europe are being driven into poverty by harsh government austerity and youth unemployment is soaring, threatening to create “lost generations” that could fire up a new continental crisis. Global charity Caritas said on Thursday that around three out of every 10 children in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Spain are in or have … Continue reading
Labor unions representing most workers in Spain’s Iberia airline have called 15 days of strikes to protest the company’s plans to lay off 4,500 workers. The stoppages by Iberia’s ground staff and cabin crews will be held Feb. 18-22, March 4-8 and March 18-22. Raul Melero of the USO union said Wednesday that the strikes … Continue reading
Crisis-hit Spanish bank workers called for nationwide protests on Wednesday, fuming over tens of thousands layoffs in the industry and lashing out against top executives they hold responsible. The Spanish banking sector is still staggering from the blow of a 2008 property crash, which left lenders awash with bad loans. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy last … Continue reading
The Banco Novagalicia involved in the Spanish banking crisis has presented a restructuration plan providing for 2,508 workers to be laid off by 2017 and 327 offices to be closed by 2015. Unions have criticized the plan and said the bank did not promote any negotiation and have organized a strike and demonstration on January … Continue reading
The number of people registered as unemployed in Spain fell by 1.2pc in December to 4.85m – the first decline since July 2012, the country’s labour ministry said. The was the best December performance since records began in 1996, with young people, women and first-time workers benefiting the most. When seasonally adjusted, Spain’s jobless numbers … Continue reading
It doesn’t take a degree in economics to know that unemployment hurts an economy. Would-be workers spend less because they earn less (or nothing), and a country’s financial workings and GDP suffer as a result. That much is easy to see, but many of unemployment’s effects can’t be predicted by textbooks, like the full extent … Continue reading
Over the past two years, Ana María Molina Cuevas, 36, has worked five shifts a week in a ceramics factory on the outskirts of this city, hand-rolling paint onto tiles. But at the end of the month, she often went unpaid… With the regional and municipal governments deeply in debt, even workers like bus drivers … Continue reading
In 2007, Spain and Greece had lower unemployment rates than the euro area as a whole. In their article, Thomas Klitgaard and Ayşegül Şahin “show that while the unemployment rates in the two countries are similar today, the paths have been very different.” (Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor to follow) The employment decline in Greece, like … Continue reading
Spain’s queue of job seekers grew to a new record in November, official data showed Tuesday, a grim sign for a nation in the grip of a jobs-killing recession. The number of people registered as unemployed grew by 74,296, or 1.5 percent, to 4.91 million in November from the previous month, the Labour Ministry said … Continue reading
The euro area (EA17) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 11.7% in October 2012, up from 11.6% in September. The EU27 unemployment rate was 10.7% in October 2012, up from 10.6% in September. In both zones, rates have risen markedly compared with October 2011, when they were 10.4% and 9.9% respectively. Eurostat estimates that 25.913 million men and women in the … Continue reading
Spain pushed forward on Wednesday with a major overhaul of the country’s stricken banking sector after Brussels approved EU-funded restructuring plans, and with nationalised Bankia saying it will slash 6,000 jobs and is set for a huge loss. Meanwhile the Bank of Spain delivered more bad news on the overall economy, saying country appears stuck … Continue reading