The Government has approved this Tuesday in the Council of Ministers to distribute 2,803 million euros among the autonomous communities for their active employment policies, focused on this occasion not on young people but on the long-term unemployed, the 1.2 million older people 45-year-olds who have been unemployed for at least a year and cannot find work.
“It is the main problem in terms of unemployment that Spain has. I call on employers to hire workers over 45 years of age,” stressed the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, at the press conference after the Council of Ministers, in which he boasted that the country now has the lowest youth employment rate since the beginning of democracy, despite the fact that it stands at 32% and doubles the average for the Eurozone.
The Minister of Labor has highlighted that “it represents the largest economic endowment for these policies in history”, and that it will be financed mainly by the Public State Employment Service (SEPE), which will contribute 2,571.96 million euros, and by the funds received from Brussels within the framework of the Recovery Plan, of which 231.8 million euros will be allocated.
The distribution of the money from SEPE among the autonomous communities will be decided at a Sector Conference to be held in the coming weeks, while the 231.8 million corresponding to the Recovery Plan will be distributed according to the criteria agreed at the Sector Conference on 21 July 2021, based on the number of potential beneficiaries of each project.
The money will be used for different purposes: 1,424 million will go to employment and training programs, 440 million to professional training systems (FP) for employment – aimed at both employed and unemployed people – and 633 million will finance alternating training initiatives. In addition, 73.5 million will be reserved to improve the National Employment System.
The Executive took advantage of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday to also approve a draft law for the new ‘Comprehensive Law to promote the Social Economy’, aimed at promoting economic and business activities carried out by entities that pursue the general economic interest or social, or both.
As explained by the vice president, in Spain there are 43,000 companies that belong to the social economy and that employ 2.2 million people (12.5% ??of total employment), being responsible for 10% of GDP.
The new law -which includes different rules- promotes the transition contract to ordinary employment so that vulnerable people or those in social exclusion can join the labor market from insertion companies or special employment centers.
In addition, it eliminates the obstacles to speed up the activity and functionality of cooperatives, promoting this type of company, “which is proving to be a niche for innovation in the Spanish business system.”
The obligation to have equality plans is extended to the scope of cooperatives in the same way as in traditional private companies; and the disqualification of cooperative companies that do not comply with the law is promoted, to prevent the abuse of the cooperative figure.
The new regulations incorporate new associative formulas that are already recognized at a European level, such as social companies, which share the principles of the social economy and reinvest 95% of their profits in the company. They will be added to a catalog currently made up of cooperatives, insertion companies, special employment centers, mutuals and labor companies, among others.
The Council of Ministers has also approved the Spanish social economy strategy 2023-2027 to promote the visibility and internationalization of a productive model that contributes to society “redistribution of wealth, values ??and economic, social and environmental sustainability”.
Among its actions includes promoting the creation of collaborative platforms through technical assistance and financial support, supporting collective entrepreneurship in rural areas and supporting the integration of women at risk of vulnerability.
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