Unemployment in Spain

WELFARE SYSTEM SPAIN

Unemployment in Spain is very high.  Indeed, the Spanish government’s figures declare unemployment in Spain to be over 20% – with the reality being probably much higher.  Of course, Spain’s black economy is very sizeable and that may help to cushion the affects of the current unemployment rate in Spain but, either way, a very significant part of the Spanish population is without work.

So, what happens when a Spaniard or foreign national (if fully registered for work in Spain) is unemployed?

Well, the welfare system in Spain is nothing like as generous as the UK and some other North European countries – where you can effectively receive benefits for (more or less) life – if you cannot find work.

In Spain, life is very hard for the unemployed and state support, once you have lost your job, is (to a Briton, like myself) frighteningly minimal.

Depending upon how long you have worked, upon losing your job, you will receive unemployment benefit for a maximum of two years (and a minimum of 4 months).  This is not long – particularly in an economic crisis that is likely to last many years!

That said, after the loss of unemployment benefit you may be eligible for a subsidio – which is a form of benefit.  If you have a wife and children, for example, you may be able to obtain a subsidio for a maximum of two years after your unemployment benefit has ceased.

Equally, if you are over 45 and have neither a wife nor children then you may obtain a subsidio for six months after the end of your unemployment benefit.  Needless to say, if you have no wife or children and you are under 45 then you will receive nothing (although at present the government has a new subsidio, probably temporary, available for six months).

My point is that being unemployed in Spain is tough and (possibly like the US?) can lead to life crumbling away very fast indeed.  This is certainly something of a foreign (pun not intended!) notion to most Britons who are used to the state softening the dreadful blow of being unemployed through a generous, long term welfare system.  Indeed, the system in the UK has been frequently criticised for being too generous and not encouraging people to return to work as soon as possible

Whatever the arguments for and against the welfare system in the UK, it is hard not to sympathise with the situation of the unemployed in Spain.  Very quickly, they can find themselves destitute.

Of course, some protection, when unemployment in Spain is high, lies in the closeness of Spanish families.  It is not unusual, for example, for ‘children’ to be living with their parents when they are in their thirties and Spaniards seem to have a wonderful ability to absorb problems within the family network.  However, I fear, this is less the case in the big cities and, for obvious reasons, does not apply to the massive number of immigrants who are now unemployed in Spain and who have poured into the country over the past ten years…

I fear that there are very hard times ahead for many people and I suspect that the crime rate is soaring – from cruel necessity…