In 2004, EU employment policy appears to have contributed to increasing women's participation in the Spanish labour market, while EU equal opportunities policy is also having an effect on women's employment. However, some of the new employment for women is temporary, precarious and in low-pay sectors. These are among the findings of recent research and analysis in Spain.
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In 2004, EU employment policy appears to have contributed to increasing women's participation in the Spanish labour market, while EU equal opportunities policy is also having an effect on women's employment. However, some of the new employment for women is temporary, precarious and in low-pay sectors. These are among the findings of recent research and analysis in Spain.
Recent research and figures highlight positive effects that the EU's European employment strategy (EES) has had on the Spanish labour market, not least in terms of the situation of women. The strategy, launched in 1997 (EU9711168F), was until 2003 (EU0308205F) based around four 'pillars' (employability, entrepreneurship, adaptability and equal opportunities), and here we look at evidence related to the effects on female employment of measures under the employability and equal opportunities pillars.
Employability
As indicated by the table below, the female employment rate in Spain has increased rapidly during the years that the EES has been in effect. Given that this rate stood at only around 28% in 1977, this increase has been one of the most important transformations in Spanish society over the last 25 years. At the Lisbon European Council in March 2000 (EU0004241F), the EU set a number of employment targets for 2010, including an overall employment rate of 70%, a female employment rate of 60% and an employment rate for those aged over 55 of 50%. Since 2000, the female employment rate in Spain has risen from around 42% to nearly 49% (while the rate for older workers has risen from 37% to nearly 40%). The Spanish female employment rate is thus getting nearer to the Lisbon target (if still some way off this objective and below the EU 15 average).
| . | 1995 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | Increase 1995-2002 (percentage points) | Current EU 15 average | EU objectives for 2010 |
| Overall employment rate, people aged 16-64 | 45.9 | 57.1 | 58.7 | 59.5 | 59.3 | 13.4 | 63.9 | 70 |
| Female employment rate, people aged 16-64 | 31.2 | 42.0 | 43.8 | 44.9 | 48.7 | 17.5 | 54.8 | 60 |
| Employment rate, people aged 55-64 | 36.8 | 37.0 | 39.2 | 39.7 | na | 2.9 | 38.2 | 50 |
| Growth in GDP | na | 4.2 | 2.7 | 2.0 | na | - | 1.1 | 3.0 |
Source: Consejo Económico y Social (Economic and Social Council), 'Memoria sobre la situación socioeconómica y laboral de España' 2003.
The EU employment targets are based on participation rates rather than unemployment (perhaps because the definition and meaning of the latter varies between countries). In Spain, unemployment has fallen since the mid-1990s, from 22.9% of the active population in 1995 to 11.0% in 2003. Unemployment is composed mainly of the long-term unemployed, persons aged 16-24 who have suffered school failure, and women (ES0402104F).
The growth in female employment in recent years has, according to some commentators, focused on quantity rather than quality. This quantitative approach arguably continues a general approach in Spain, whereby regulatory intervention by the government has tended to deregulate recruitment, eroding the need to justify the use of certain types of precarious employment contract (since a 1982 labour market reform). Research indicates that female employment has grown to a large extent in low-pay sectors (see 'A contribution to evaluation of the EES', Amparo Serrano, in European Trade Union Yearbook, E Gabaglio and R Hoffman, European Trade Union Institute, Brussels, 2002). A precarious type of employment has been created for many women in new areas of employment and in services such as hotels and catering, retailing, cleaning, housework and care for the elderly. The percentage of Spanish workers on 'low pay' is said to be 13%, compared with an EU 15 average of 15%. Most of them are women and their low pay is due to factors such as: part-time employment (involving 32% of low-paid workers, compared with an EU average of 43%); low hourly pay rates (54% of low-paid workers, compared with an EU 15 average of 37%); and the combination of both part-time employment and low hourly pay (7% of low-paid workers, compared with an EU 15 average of 11%). The percentage of Spanish wage-earners whose hourly pay is defined as 'low' is 12% compared with an EU average of 9% (see 'Overcoming barriers to equal pay in Spain: monitoring gender mainstreaming', M Caprile and A Escobedo, in Equal pay and gender mainstreaming in the European strategy, L Magnusson, L Mosesdottir and A Serrano, ETUI, Brussels, 2002). The development of low-pay employment has been stimulated by local policies, in collaboration with the town councils and regional governments, according to researchers.
Equal opportunities
The effects in Spain of gender equality measures having their origin in EU legislation and policy, including the equal opportunities pillar of the EES, have met with favourable assessments from analysts. EU Directives on equal opportunities issues and their transposition into Spanish law - such as the 1999 law on reconciliation of work and family life (ES9911165F) - has led to a considerable improvement in the employment conditions of women, it is reported. The implementation of EU Directives on parental leave, part-time work and fixed-term work - all of which implement agreements between the EU-level social partners - is seen as having been important in this area. Furthermore, collective bargaining is making some progress towards the elimination of gender discrimination in pay, recruitment, training, promotion, occupational classification, reconciliation of work and family life, health and safety at work, and sexual harassment (ES0312102F). This topic is increasingly found in collective agreements and some joint equality committees have been set up (see La negociación colectiva como instrumento para la igualdad laboral entre hombres y mujeres, Carla Bonino and Jorge Aragón, Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales, Madrid, 2003).
A European perspective has been incorporated into the agenda of Spanish trade unions, and recently this has come to include equal opportunities. The temporary employment rate of women is 25% higher than that of men, their unemployment rate is double that of men and they earn 30% less than men. Despite the precarious nature of many women's jobs, which is usually a disincentive for union membership, women are increasingly tending to join trade unions. Since 2000, 49.8% of the new members of the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (Comisiones Obreras, CC.OO) have been women. The figure for the General Workers’ Confederation (Unión General de Trabajadores, UGT) is 35.7% (according to the El País newspaper on 25 April 2004).
Commentary
The coordination of employment policy through the EES is a form of 'multi-level government' through sharing common objectives such as an increase in participation rates. This coordination also makes it possible to promote a culture of assessment through the European Commission and Council of Ministers joint employment reports (EU0402204F), and to establish common indicators. However, the employment policies are arguably too open and lack definition, being mainly oriented towards flexibility and the deregulation of employment, which offers a negative image of European integration. The orientation of the policy is quantitative, so the principle that 'any job is better than nothing' has been an excuse for flexibilising recruitment. Today the precariousness and legal vulnerability of employment is one of the worst aspects, and there is an urgent need for a new, qualitative approach to employment. (Antonio Martin Artiles, Grup QUIT-UAB)
Eurofound doporučuje citovat tuto publikaci následujícím způsobem.
Eurofound (2004), Female employment and EU employment policy, article.
