The Ministry of Labor assures that the proposal they have prepared to reform unemployment protection in the country will go ahead and will come into force progressively from June 2024, thus assuming that the contrary positions of the Ministry of Economy , which they describe as right-wing ideology, will remain a dead letter.
This has been pointed out to the press by sources from Yolanda Díaz’s department, who accuse Nadia Calviño’s team of having an ideological position that the PP and Vox would support and whose main objective is to threaten the unemployed. Díaz’s department assures that her proposal is already agreed with the PSOE in the investiture agreement.
Today, when an unemployed person runs out of the unemployment benefit to which they are entitled, they have the option of accessing unemployment benefits as long as they are over 52 years old or over 45 years old and have family responsibilities. This subsidy is equivalent to 80% of the current IPREM (480 euros) and lasts a maximum of 30 months (2 and a half years).
As explained by Labor, what the Ministry of Economy intends is for this subsidy to last a maximum of 12 months – and not the current 30 – and for it to be higher at the beginning (equivalent to 100% of the IPREM in the first three months, that is , of 600 euros) and gradually decreases (up to 80% of the IPREM in the second quarter, 480 euros; to 65% in the third or 390 euros and to 50% in the fourth, 240 euros).
In total, the average subsidy would be equivalent to 73.7% of the IPREM, that is, 442.5 euros per month on average and would only last one year.
Economy also wants the unemployed to have the obligation to go monthly to sign their activity commitment (which shows that they are looking for employment and willing to work) and wants to modify the Sanctions Law to establish a system of punishments that generates strong incentives for the unemployed. unemployed people to work and get out of the underground economy.
Labor interprets that this is a very serious conception, which is based on the suspicion that the unemployed in our country do not want to work or, if they do, they do so in the dark, and that it seeks to threaten and harass them.
Faced with this proposal that they assure will not see the light of day, sources from Yolanda Díaz’s Ministry want to modify the unemployment benefit but to expand it instead of cutting it.
They are in favor of keeping it in force for 30 months and instead of lowering it, they propose that the first 6 months raise it to 110% of the IPREM (660 euros), that the following half year it be at 90% of the IPREM (540 euros today) and from the second year onwards it will remain at 480 euros. All these amounts will vary from January 2024 because the IPREM will foreseeably be updated upwards.
This will increase the public spending of the State, but Labor believes that there will be room to undertake it given that the SEPE has registered a surplus this year of about 4.8 billion euros.
Labor also wants to expand the groups covered by this subsidy and that from now on, those under 45 years of age without family responsibilities are also included (which would mean incorporating about 150,000 people). Economía even proposed that this subsidy be only available to those over 60 years of age, but according to Labor they have already ruled it out.
They also want to include potential farmers from the autonomous communities that are not currently covered, which would also imply adding 250,000 more people. In total more than a million people would be covered.
In addition, the month of waiting that currently exists between the collection of the benefit and the subsidy will be eliminated; The subsidy will be compatible with employment for the first 45 days of work; and when reviewing income levels, the potential beneficiary will take into account the family burden only in cases where it is most beneficial.
Once the 30 months in which the subsidy can be received have ended, the unemployed person will be covered by the Minimum Living Income.
The Ministry also does not plan to make changes in the possibilities that unemployed people have to reject a job offer, but they do want to change the concept of an “adequate” offer. They will be those that coincide with the requested profession (what the unemployed person wants to work in), those that coincide with the last one the unemployed had or those that adapt to their characteristics, but – and here comes the important thing – as long as the offer is for a permanent position that guarantees at least the Minimum Wage.
The Government is going to bring the reform proposal to social dialogue soon, as UGT and CCOO have requested, but it assumes that it will have their support because it does not affect the employers directly and the unions agree with Labor and against Economy.
After agreeing on it at the negotiating table, Díaz plans to take the rule to the Council of Ministers in the coming weeks, since the approval of this rule is a sine qua non condition for Spain to access the fourth disbursement of the Next Generation European funds. that we are going to receive late.
Labor assures that it has been preparing this reform since the summer of 2022, but that it has been delayed as friction with the Economy created, and that it has been negotiated with the European Commission in many meetings. It does not yet have their endorsement, but it has been agreed upon, they say.
Specifically, Spain committed to Brussels in Component 23 of the Recovery Plan to “expand unemployment protection by eliminating the lack of protection gaps in the current system and extending the duration of subsidies”, to “link the benefit to a personalized activation itinerary for employment”, to “simplify the system currently fragmented into several regimes” and to “facilitate the transition to social protection when the person does not re-enter the labor market and is in a vulnerable situation”.
The entry into force, however, will not occur until June 1, 2024 and will be temporary. In fact, all the subsidies that are in force at that time will continue as before and those that are newly registered in the system will change.
