Employment agreements boost action on new sources of jobs

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The pacts and agreements for employment reached in Spain during 1998 have included action programmes designed to promote new sources of employment. In the second half of the year, new schemes on this topic have appeared at both state and regional level. Spain has thus recovered from a certain delay in introducing active employment policies in this area.

The idea of finding and promoting "new sources of employment" - in areas such as personal care services or environmental protection - as part of the fight against unemployment has been included in various European Union initiatives since around 1995. In Spain, measures concerning new sources of employment (nuevos yacimientos de empleo) were concentrated in 1996 and 1997 in projects covered by European Community initiatives under the terms of article 10 of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and article 6 of the European Social Fund (ESF), which were specifically aimed at this area (ES9707214F). In 1998, the importance of these initiatives has increased considerably in Spain, both in the framework of the social dialogue on employment and in the regulatory development of active employment policies.

Current initiatives

Below we outline 1998's main new initiatives on new sources of jobs in chronological order.

• The Autonomous Community of Castilla-La Mancha's regional agreement for employment was signed in March 1998 by the regional government, the trade unions and the regional employers' confederation. It includes a programme aimed at removing the initial obstacles preventing the development of social services, care services, the information society, environmental improvement and the protection of nature. The programme is aimed at non-profit local organisations with projects designed to create permanent jobs, providing initial subsidies of 100% which progressively decrease to 25%, for the wage costs of these jobs. The first call for projects was made in July 1998.

• In its 1998 National Action Plan for employment released in April (ES9804253N), in response to the EU Employment Guidelines, the Spanish government includes several schemes in this field. These come under the framework of one of the Plan's fundamental guidelines: "the decisive increase in active employment policies with the reinforcement of new sources of employment and the extension of entrepreneurial culture at a local level." The Plan contains a new programme, called "employment workshops" (talleres de empleo), under which unemployed people aged over 25 work in new areas of employment of social interest. The Plan also promotes the existing Local Employment Initiatives (LEIs) programme and the extension of the areas of activity of the "workshop schools" (escuelas taller) - the main Spanish work/training programme - to cover new sources of employment. New regulations in this area appeared at the end of October.

• The pact for employment in Catalonia (1998-2000), signed in May by the regional government, the employers' organisations and representative trade unions (ES9805154F), places promotion of new sources of employment as the top priority for job creation. The Pact provides for the drawing up of a white paper on new sources of employment in Catalonia and commits ESP 600 million for 1998 in subsidies for recruitment, ESP 615 million for the LEIs and ESP 150 million for social economy initiatives in these areas, giving priority to care services, caring professions, communications, alternative and renewable energy, prevention of occupational risks, tourism, environmental services and recycling, amongst others.

• In July 1998, the Madrid Training Institute (Instituto Madrileño de Formación), which belongs to the Ministry of Economy and Employment of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, introduced a programme on new sources of employment aimed at local organisations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and non-profit organisations. The programme includes recruitment subsidies of up to ESP 750,000 for job-creation projects involving permanent contracts in those services regarded as new sources of employment.

• The employment plan for Galicia (1998-2001), signed in July 1998 by trade unions, employers' associations and the regional administration (ES9810184F), includes a commitment to draw up a catalogue of new sources of employment in 1999.

• Finally, in August the Ministry of Justice, Economy, Labour and Social Security of the Basque Country introduced a system of subsidies to support setting up companies in new areas of employment, aimed at non-profit organisations and social economy companies creating jobs in these areas. The subsidies are up to ESP 1 million per job.

The presence of new sources of employment and/or active policies in all of these agreements has thus attained a certain importance. This should be interpreted as a recognition of the need to intensify activity in certain sectors and occupations (such as care services and environmentally-friendly services) and of the major impact on employment that these services could have in the future.

To varying extents, the trade unions have played a clear role in introducing these programmes and activities, accompanied by the interest of the employers' organisations in supporting SMEs and the interest of the authorities in promoting active labour market policies. There is also "a Europe effect", in the sense that since the summer of 1997 employment, and particularly employment creation, has been at the forefront of the public policy agendas in all countries.

Commentary

Specific programmes designed to create new sources of employment may provide a greater stimulus to detecting and activating these business initiatives, but it is unlikely that they will improve their chances of consolidation in unreceptive markets unless action is taken to foster intermediate structures and to promote demand.

There have been few innovations in this area, with the exception of a mention of the informal economy in the Basque decree. Neither the quantity nor the type of these subsidies differs substantially from those applied under the existing Local Employment Initiatives. The great majority of the schemes are approached from a supply-side perspective, that is, one designed to support the companies and organisations offering services, basically through recruitment subsidies. All the analyses agree that intervention in the new sources of employment must combine action on both the supply and the demand sides. There is a large gap between unsatisfied need - which is unquestionable in these sectors - and the effective demand for services. However, using the type of aid provided in the Community structural funds, it is difficult for the labour authorities to inform, increase awareness and stimulate the demand for services, which are some of the main obstacles to the development of new sources of employment. (Eduard Jiménez, Fundación CIREM)