Spain to pay out benefits to long-term unemployed

Δημοσιεύθηκε: 15 Δεκεμβρίου 2014 - 16:48

Spain has unveiled a series of measures to combat long-term unemployment, including a new monthly payment for about 450,000 jobless who currently receive no form of state support and face a growing risk of social exclusion.

The package comes amid rising concern over the fate of Spain's long-term unemployed, and warnings that the country is facing a deepening social crisis. The measures were announced less than a year before a general election, and follows intense pressure on the government to show that ordinary voters are benefiting from the country's economic recovery.

While the government has made assurances that the economic recovery - now in its second year - remains on track, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has acknowledged that the return of economic growth had so far failed to lift the nation's more vulnerable residents.

"In many ways the crisis is a thing of the past," Mr Rajoy said on Monday. "But what is not history are the effects of the crisis . . . We have to be aware that the recovery has not reached everyone in the same way."

Candido Mendez, secretary-general of Spain's UGT labour union, said the deal, part of a broader package agreed between government, employers and unions, was an "indispensable agreement for an unsustainable situation".

According to official data, there are 2.4m Spaniards who have been out of work for at least two years - the period after which unemployment benefits run out. More than 700,000 Spanish households have no regular income from work and receive no state subsidy either.

A growing number depend either on charities or their extended family for support.

Under the measures, at least some of those who are at direct risk of social exclusion can now claim a new benefit worth €426 a month. In return, and among other conditions, they must enrol in the government's programme to reintegrate long-term unemployed into the labour market.

The new benefit will be paid out for six months. If all the estimated 450,000 unemployed who are entitled to the regime take part, it will cost the government about €1.15bn.

Spain's unemployment rate has been falling steadily over the past year but at 23.7 per cent is still one of the highest in the developed world.

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