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National Labour Market Policy in Spain
Basic information report on institutions, procedures and employment policy measures
MISEP
Update
2001
GENERAL SECRETARIAT FOR EMPLOYMENT
SUB-DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR EMPLOYMENT STUDIES
Updated: March 2002
1
La política de empleo en España [Labour Market Policy in Spain] is a publication which
includes the latest Spanish version (June 2000) of the Basic information report on institutions,
procedures and labour market policies in Spain (European Commission, MISEP).
The electronic version of La política de empleo en España [Labour Market Policy in Spain]
(http://www.mtas.es/empleo/misep/default.htm) contains information last updated in
December 2000.
The purpose of this document is to update the electronic version with information current as
of 31 December 2001 to bring its contents in line with the various changes made to
employment regulations and standards.
This updated report only contains measures which have been introduced or modified during
the period in question. In the event of substantial changes the text of an entire section - or of
one or more points in a given measure (aim, legal basis, etc.) - has been replaced. If the
suggested changes are minor, we opted not to reproduce the entire text of the section or
measure, but simply explained in a separate paragraph what has been changed from the
previous version.
In addition to the titles of paragraphs, the text also gives in parentheses the section or
measures that are affected by the partial or total modification. In every case, this follows the
numbering used in La política de empleo en España [Labour Market Policy in Spain] (2000).
The modified sections and measures are referenced in the index, again using the same
numbering.
This update can be accessed on the website of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
(http://www.mtas.es) in the Información sobre empleo section. There are direct links to the
modified sections of La política de empleo en España [Labour Market Policy in Spain]
(December 2000). There is also a link to the Normativa sobre Políticas de Empleo section,
where visitors can consult the entire text of the provisions on which the updates are based.
The links can be identified by the blue box surrounding the standard or measure number in
question.
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY OF NEW MEASURES
CHAPTER I: INSTITUTIONS
2. National Employment Institute
2.1 Legal status
2.2 Principal bodies
2.3 Organisation chart
3. Public institutions with the involvement of the social partners
3.3 Tripartite Foundation for Employment Training
4. The Autonomous Communities
CHAPTER II: LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR LABOUR POLICY, LABOUR
RELATIONS AND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT
1. Labour Legislation and Sources
1.2 Workers' Statute
1.4 General Law on Social Security
1.7 Legislation on equal opportunities
1.8 Sources derived from collective bargaining
3. Supply and Demand: Contracts, Wages, Working Hours, Placement
3.1 The employment contract, wages, working day
a) Types of employment contract
b) Wages
4. Unemployment Protection Scheme
4.1 General features
4.4 Active integration wage
4.5 Assistance for unemployed casual agricultural workers under the Special Agricultural
Social Security Scheme - REASS
CHAPTER III: ACTIVE MEASURES
1. Measures to Promote Training, Retraining and Occupational Mobility
1.4 Further training
1.5 Training through the convergence of the education system and work experience
1.6 Experimental training and workforce integration programme in information and
communication technologies
3. Measures to Promote Job Creation
3.1 Contractual measures having no economic incentive
b) Fixed-term contract
d) Training contract
3.2 Measures to promote employment with financial incentives
Summary table: Employment Promotion Programme 2001
3.2.1 Promotion of open-ended employment for certain groups
a) Unemployed women aged 16-45
b) Unemployed women in professions and occupations with a low level of women
3
c) Women officially registered as unemployed for at least 12 months who are hired in the
24 months following the date on which they gave birth
d) Unemployed workers officially registered as unemployed for an uninterrupted period
of at least six months
e) Unemployed workers aged 45 to 55
f) Unemployed workers aged 55 to 65
Programme for the workforce integration of long-term unemployed workers aged 45
or over
g) Unemployed workers who are receiving unemployment benefit or assistance and who have
at least one year of eligibility at the time of employment
h) Unemployed workers receiving specific aid, namely the active integration wage
i) Unemployed workers receiving assistance under the special agricultural social security
scheme - REASS
j) Open-ended or fixed-term contract for unemployed workers threatened by social exclusion
in non-profit companies
k) Employment of the first employee by self-employed workers
l) Disabled unemployed workers
3.2.2 Conversion of fixed-term contracts into open-ended contracts
a) Training contracts, replacement contracts and substitution contracts
b) Fixed-term contracts
c) Fixed-term contracts for disabled workers
3.2.3 Promotion of fixed-term employment for special groups
a) Fixed-term employment for disabled workers covered by employment-promotion measures
in 2002
b) Training contracts for disabled workers: training contract and work-experience contract
c) Employment of disabled workers to temporarily replace workers on parental leave,
adoption leave or foster care leave, and to replace workers who have suspended their
employment contract due to pregnancy
3.4 Promotion of employment in cooperatives
4. Measures to Promote Special Categories of Workers
4.6 Workers who have reached retirement age
a) Extension of career and gradual, flexible retirement
4.7 Other categories: agricultural workers and unemployed workers threatened with social
exclusion
5. Employment Distribution Measures
5.1 Regulation of working time
b) Part-time contract
5.2 Retirement and the distribution of work
a) Replacement contract
6. Measures for Intervening on the Labour Market. Information, Vocational Guidance
and Placement.
6.3 Measures offering vocational guidance for employment and assistance for self-
employment
6.5 Experimental programmes on new methods of integrating job-seekers into the labour
market
4
CHAPTER IV: LABOUR MARKET STATISTICS
1. Sources of statistics on employment and unemployment
A. National Statistical Institute (INE)
5
SUMMARY OF NEW MEASURES
The following changes were made in the first half of 2001:
Chapter I. Institutions: change to the organic structure of the National Employment Institute
(INEM), the creation of the Tripartite Foundation for Employment Training, and advances in
the process of devolving the management of active employment policies to the Autonomous
Communities (p. 7).
Chapter II. Legal framework for labour relations: modifications to various provisions in the
Workers' Statute, the General Law on Social Security and the rules and regulations on equal
opportunities (p. 9). With regard to measures aimed at protecting unemployed workers,
legislation has been passed on the new Active Integration Wage (p. 11).
Chapter III. Employment policy measures:
* Rewording of training initiatives for employed workers (p. 15)
* New legislation governing the programme on workshop schools (Escuelas-Taller) and youth
employment centres (Casas de Oficio), and on the programme on employment workshops
(Talleres de Empleo) (p. 17)
* Experimental training and workforce integration programme in information and
communication technologies (p. 17)
* Legislation on the new integration contract (p. 10)
* Penalisation of fixed-term employment for periods of less than seven days and
establishment of compensation for the elimination of fixed-term employment (p. 19)
* Increase in the number of groups with whom training contracts can be concluded (p. 19)
* Maintenance of and expansion to include other groups under open-ended employment with
compensation of 33 days per year worked in the event of wrongful dismissed (p. 19).
The Employment Promotion Programme for 2001 will be continued in 2002 (p. 19):
- greater incentives to employ women;
- extension of subsidies to include new groups and conversion of fixed-term contracts
into open-ended employment
* Reductions in social security contributions for maternity leave, following the reform in
March, both for the worker who goes on leave and for the temporary worker who replaces her
(p. 33)
* Legislation governing partial retirement and encouraging the extension of working life and
gradual, flexible retirement (p. 34)
* New limits on the maximum daily working time, maximum additional hours (horas
complementarias) under part-time contracts, and working time under the replacement
contract, in the light of the changes made to the legislation on part-time work (pp. 35-36)
* Experimental programmes on new methods of integrating job-seekers into the labour market
(p. 37)
* Chapter IV. Labour market statistics. New Labour Cost Index (p. 40)
6
CHAPTER I: INSTITUTIONS
NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT INSTITUTE (affects sections 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 of Chapter I)
With a view to responding to the needs and obligations set out under the 3rd Tripartite
Agreement on further training, which establishes a greater role for the public authorities in
managing aid for further training, Royal Decree 377/2001 (6 April)1 modified the organic
structure of the National Employment Institute (INEM) and created the Sub-Directorate-
General for Training.
The Sub-Directorate-General for Further Training, a unit within the INEM Directorate-
General, has the following functions with respect to further training: assessing and analysing
measures; planning, monitoring and assessment; technical/legal consultancy and support; and
the establishment and maintenance of operational processes to be developed by the various
units of INEM in terms of further training. In addition, a new Audit Office (Intervención
Delegada) has been created; it is attached to the INEM Directorate-General.
PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS WITH THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE SOCIAL PARTNERS
Tripartite Foundation for Employment Training (replacement of section 3.3 in Chap. I)
On 1 June 2001 the Council of Ministers approved an agreement authorising the creation of
the Tripartite Foundation for Employment Training.
The purpose of the Tripartite Foundation for Employment Training is to manage further
training. Representatives of the government, employers' organisations and trade unions will
take part in the Tripartite Foundation for Employment Training.
The decision to entrust the management of further training to a Tripartite Foundation was
made by the government and the social partners in the 3rd Tripartite Agreement on Further
Training, signed in connection with the social dialogue on 19 December 2000.
The Foundation has its own legal status and will be attached to the Ministry of Labour and
Social Affairs. The aim is to incorporate efficiency, transparency and public oversight into its
organisation and management activities. Government functions must comply with these
criteria. Another objective is to eliminate bureaucratic red tape and needless duplication of
work created by having functions shared between FORCEM (managed by employers and
unions) and INEM.
The main functions of the Tripartite Foundation are: to encourage and disseminate the further
training sub-system among employers and workers; to process and technically assess
applications for aid under various training initiatives; to manage documents and accounts; and
to submit proposed resolutions to INEM. It is also responsible for allocating resources to the
various further training initiatives and defining the criteria governing the territorial
distribution of funds, the aim being to streamline the system.
1
Royal Decree 377/2001 (6 April) amending Royal Decree 1458/1986 (6 June) on the organic structure of the
National Employment Institute (Spanish Official Journal, 21 April 2001).
7
The new Foundation will be organised via a Board comprising nine representatives of the
government, nine representatives of the trade union organisations and nine representatives of
employers' organisations which signed the 3rd National Agreement on Further Training.
THE AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITIES (partial modification to section 4, Chap. I)
In connection with the process of devolving powers for the management of labour policies
from the central government to the Autonomous Communities, the Principality of Asturias,
Extremadura, Castilla y León, the Balearic Islands, La Rioja and Cantabria2 joined those
Autonomous Communities that have assumed control of active labour policies (Canarias,
Catalonia, Valencia, Galicia, Madrid and Navarra). Canarias, Madrid and Valencia3 each
signed cooperation agreements with the National Employment Institute to coordinate the
management of employment and vocational training with protective measures for
unemployment. These agreements are similar to those signed in 1998 with Catalonia and
Galicia.
2
Royal Decree 11/2001 (12 January) on the devolution to the Principality of Asturias of the management duties
performed by the National Employment Institute in connection with labour, employment and training (Spanish
Official Journal, 31 January 2001).
Royal Decree 664/2001 (22 June) on the devolution to the Autonomous Community of Extremadura of the
management duties performed by the National Employment Institute in connection with labour, employment and
training (Spanish Official Journal, 5 July 2001)
Royal Decree 1187/2001 (2 November) on the devolution to the Autonomous Community of Castilla of the
management duties performed by the National Employment Institute in connection with labour, employment and
training (Spanish Official Journal, 22 November 2001)
Royal Decree 1268/2001 (29 November) on the devolution to the Autonomous Community of the Balearic
Islands of the management duties performed by the National Employment Institute in connection with labour,
employment and training (Spanish Official Journal, 5 December 2001)
Royal Decree 1379/2001 (7 December) on the devolution to the Autonomous Community of La Rioja of the
management duties performed by the National Employment Institute in connection with labour, employment and
training (Spanish Official Journal, 25 December 2001)
Royal Decree 1418/2001 (14 December) on the devolution to the Autonomous Community of Cantabria of the
management duties performed by the National Employment Institute in connection with labour, employment and
training (Spanish Official Journal, 31 December 2001)
3
Resolution of 17 January 2001 of the Technical Secretariat-General publishing the Cooperation Agreement
between the National Employment Institute (INEM) and the Autonomous Community of Canarias for
coordinating the management of employment and unemployment benefits (Spanish Official Journal, 13 February
2001)
Resolution of 17 January 2001 of the Technical Secretariat-General publishing the Cooperation Agreement
between the National Employment Institute (INEM) and the Autonomous Community of Madrid for
coordinating the management of employment and unemployment benefits (Spanish Official Journal, 13 February
2001)
Resolution of 3 December 2001 of the Technical Secretariat-General publishing the Cooperation Agreement
between the National Employment Institute (INEM) and the Autonomous Community of Valencia for
coordinating the management of employment and unemployment benefits (Spanish Official Journal, 27
December 2001)
8
CHAPTER II: LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR LABOUR POLICY, LABOUR
RELATIONS AND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT
LABOUR LEGISLATION AND SOURCES
Workers' Statute (partial modification to section 1.2, Chap. II)
Law 12/2001 (9 July) on Urgent Measures to Reform the Labour Market to increase and
improve the quality of employment (Spanish Official Journal, 12 July 2001) joins the
standards amending the revised text of the Workers' Statute Act (March 1995).
The main objective is to bolster the principle of job stability by introducing new limitations
and guarantees in fixed-term contracts. At the same time, the legal regime governing part-time
contracts was modified in order to strengthen this form of contract, more groups were made
eligible for training contracts, and a new integration contract (contrato de inserción) was
created for hiring unemployed workers to perform work and services in the general and social
interest.
Other modifications, which are not relevant to the document La política de empleo en España
[Labour Market Policy in Spain], given the basic nature of that document, focus on bolstering
guarantees for subcontracted labour, as well as repealing the additional tenth provision of the
Workers' Statute which encouraged the adoption of measures aimed at ensuring the forced
retirement of older workers.
General Law on Social Security (partial modification to section 1.4, Chap. II)
Article 34 of law 24/20014 amends the General Law on Social Security, establishing the
possibility of the partial retirement - without the need to simultaneously conclude a
replacement contract - of workers who have reached the ordinary retirement age and who
meet the requirements entitling them to retirement. Secondly, it supplements the legislation on
the deferment of unemployment benefit for the purpose of standardising a system of uniform,
universal control over persons receiving benefit. The same system is established in relation to
benefit for persons aged over 52.
Legislation on equal opportunities (partial modification to section 1.7, Chap. II)
With a view to encouraging the distribution of family responsibilities between mothers and
fathers, improving child care by the parents, and enabling women to maintain links to their
job so that maternity is not an obstacle to professional promotion, Royal Decree 1251/20015
(16 November) implementing law 39/1999 provides for the more flexible use of the leave
period for maternity, adoption and foster care, making it possible to enjoy such leave under a
part-time system, thereby governing the compatibility of maternity benefit with work without
modifying the employment contract.
Sources derived from collective bargaining (partial modification to section 1.8, Chap. II)
In connection with the social dialogue, the social partners signed the following in 2001:
4
Law 24/2001 (27 December) on Fiscal, Administrative and Social Measures (Spanish Official Journal, 31
December 2001)
5
Royal Decree 1251/2001 (16 November) governing the economic performance of the social security system in
terms of maternity and risks associated with pregnancy (Spanish Official Journal, 17 November 2001)
9
* The 3rd National Agreement on Further Training6, which took effect on 1 January 2001,
sets the foundation for further training policy for the next four years. Further, as a result of
this agreement and in order to authorise the measures which make its financing and execution
possible, the social partners and the government signed the 3rd Tripartite Agreement on
Further Training7.
• The Interconfederal Agreement on Collective Bargaining 2002 was signed on
20 December 2001 by two trade union organisations, Centrales Sindicales de
Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO) and Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), and two
employers' organisations, Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales
(CEOE) and Confederación Española de la Pequeña y Mediana Empresa (CEPYME).
In this legally binding agreement employers and workers agreed that collective
bargaining in Spain in 2002 must give priority to wage restraint and the
maintenance/creation of jobs by improving the competitiveness of companies.
SUPPLY AND DEMAND: CONTRACTS, WAGES, WORKING HOURS,
PLACEMENT
The employment contract, wages, working day
Law 12/2001 (9 July) on Urgent Measures to Reform the Labour Market to increase and
improve the quality of employment enacts a new integration contract whose relevant
legislation will enter into force on 1 January 2002. Its purpose is to supplement and formalise
the typical activities of active labour policies, such as programmes to employ unemployed
workers to perform work and services in the general and social interest.
The integration contract is a new type of fixed-term contract that is signed when a public
body or non-profit body hires unemployed workers officially registered as unemployed to
perform works and services in the general and social interest as part of public programmes as
a means of acquiring working experience and making them more employable.
The public employment offices subsidise the labour and social security costs of workers
working under an integration contract, taking as a benchmark the amount equivalent to the
minimum contributory basis of the group corresponding to the job performed by the worker,
independently of the pay ultimately received. Said pay may not be less than that stipulated by
the relevant collective agreement.
When the worker has been hired under this kind of contract for a period exceeding nine
months over the past three years, he may not continue his involvement in the programme until
three years have passed since the end of his previous contract.
Wages (partial modification to point 3.1.b, Chap. II)
6
Resolution of 2 February 2001 of the Directorate-General of Labour providing for the registration in the
Register and publication of the 3rd National Agreement on Further Training signed on 19 December 2000
(Spanish Official Journal, 23 February 2001)
7
Resolution of 1 February 2001, of the Under-Secretariat, publishing the 3rd Tripartite Agreement on Further
Training (Spanish Official Journal, 15 February 2001)
10
For the year 2002, the national interprofessional minimum wage was fixed at 442.20 euro per
month or 6,190.80 euro per year (corresponding to 14 monthly payments).
11
UNEMPLOYMENT PROTECTION SCHEME
General features (partial modification to section 4.1, Chap. II)
As a result of the entry into force in 2001 of the implementing legislation for the active
integration wage provided for in Article 26 of law 14/2000 (29 December), the Aim and Legal
Basis paragraphs of this section have changed.
Aim (replacement of the Aim paragraph in section 4.1, Chap. II)
The unemployment protection scheme provides benefit to replace wages no longer received
by workers who are legally unemployed (either partially or totally), guarantees a minimum
subsistence level by means of unemployment benefit, and encourages the active integration of
unemployed workers into the workforce.
The system is divided into differing levels of protection:
a) general system: with contributory unemployment benefit and unemployment
assistance
b) active integration wage
c) special system: benefit for agricultural workers.
The system also contemplates various specific training, advanced training, guidance,
retraining and workforce integration measures.
Legal Basis (partial modification to the Legal Basis paragraph in section 4.1, Chap. II)
Royal Decree 781/2001 (6 July), passed in 2001, governs an active integration wage
programme for long-term unemployed workers aged 45 or over8 (Spanish Official Journal, 7
July 2001).
Active integration wage (new section 4.4, Chap. II)
Aim
The active integration wage, targeting unemployed persons with special economic needs and
having difficulties finding employment, and undertaking to take action in favour of their
integration into the workforce, pursues the dual objective of their reintegration into the
workforce and protection from unemployment.
Legal basis
Law 14/2000 (29 December). Royal Decree 781/2001 (6 July).
Contents
The job-seeker with special needs must sign an undertaking to work (compromiso de
actividad) by virtue of which measures are taken to encourage his integration into the
workforce in agreement with the public employment offices or, where appropriate,
8
Royal Decree 781/2001 (6 July) governing an active integration wage programme for the year 2001 for long-
term unemployed workers aged 45 or over (Spanish Official Journal, 7 July 2001)
12
cooperating bodies. The programme includes the following complementary workforce
integration activities:
• Personalised tutoring. Assessment and creation of a workforce integration plan agreed
with the job-seeker, with monthly follow-up and updates. The assigned tutor proposes
and assesses measures to make the job-seeker more employable.
• Workforce integration plan. Following the occupational assessment, the purpose of
which is to precisely define the job-seeker's occupational profile on the basis of
information from the public employment offices, a personal workforce integration
plan is drawn up within two weeks after admission to the programme. Depending on
the job-seeker's personal characteristics, vocational experience and training, the
employment tutor and the job-seeker establish which activities are to be followed and
the timetable for doing so.
• Managing placement offers. When a placement offer comes in that fits the job-seeker's
occupational profile, the tutor encourages him to take part in the recruitment process,
the aim being to process placement offers managed by the public employment offices
or by cooperating bodies.
• Inclusion in employment and/or training plans. If the job-seeker has not found a job
within 45 days of joining the programme, the public employment offices will give
priority treatment to his file, making sure to include him in one of the following
plans/programmes:
o National Vocational Training and Integration Plan, when the worker requires
specific vocational training or when his qualification is insufficient or
inadequate. The objective is to give him the qualifications required by industry
and to find him a job.
o Employment Workshop Programme. The aim of this programme is to give the
job-seeker the vocational training and work experience needed to facilitate his
reintegration into the labour market.
o Plans to hire unemployed persons to perform work and services in the general
and social interest. The purpose of these plans is to give the job-seeker relevant
vocational experience.
o Other actions to make the job-seeker more employable, such as providing
support with finding a job and providing information on self-employment.
• Opportunity to perform volunteer work.
• During their time in the programme workers receive the active integration wage
starting in the third month.
The active integration wage is compatible with:
o grants and subsidies in support of vocational training actions linked to the National
Vocational Training and Integration Plan.
o part-time work, with the time worked being proportionally deducted from the
active integration wage.
o self-employed work or paid employment.
o full-time paid work of an undefined nature, with the employer topping up the
amount of the active integration wage - during the remaining time for which the
worker is eligible to collect it - up to the amount of the worker's wage. The
employer does not have to pay the worker's social security contributions.
o volunteer work.
13
The conditions for eligibility are:
o to have reached the age of 45.
o to have been officially registered as unemployed for an uninterrupted period of at least
12 months and to have exhausted the entitlement to contributory unemployment
benefit or unemployment assistance, and not to be entitled to protection for said
contingency. This requirement does not apply if the job-seeker has been officially
registered as unemployed for an uninterrupted period of at least 24 months with an
entitlement to unemployment protection.
o to not have monthly income of any nature in excess of 75% of the national
interprofessional minimum wage; special benefits are excepted.
o to not have reached the ordinary age for entitlement to a contributory pension, unless
the contributory period required for the pension has not been completed.
o to have signed an undertaking to work by virtue of which the beneficiary will take
action to facilitate the finding of a job, said action being approved by the public
employment offices or bodies.
Amount
During their time in the programme workers receive the active integration wage starting in
the third month, equivalent to 75% of the national interprofessional minimum wage
applicable in 2001, excepting the proportion for special benefits.
Duration
Unemployed persons may not receive this wage for more than 10 months.
Entitlement
The unemployed person will begin collecting the active integration wage three months after
submitting his application to join the programme and signing the undertaking to work.
Withdrawing from and rejoining the programme
Withdrawing from and rejoining the programme are governed by the National Employment
Institute for reasons stipulated by law. INEM informs the relevant public employment offices
which, in turn, inform the cooperating bodies. Workers who withdraw from the programme
permanently may not be readmitted.
Reasons for withdrawing from the programme permanently and, in turn, from the active
integration wage, are:
- failure to comply with the obligations set out in the undertaking to work and the personal
workforce integration plan
- failure to appear before the National Employment Institute or before the public employment
offices to duly renew the employment application or failure to present to the public
employment offices evidence of having acted on incoming placement offers.
- turning down suitable offers of employment or refusing to take part in employment
programmes or in integration, promotion, training or vocational retraining activities.
- working for a period of at least six months.
14
- having reached the ordinary age for entitlement to a contributory pension, unless the
contributory period required for the pension has not been completed, or if the individual has
since retired or been declared to be permanently work incapacitated.
- no longer meeting the condition regarding lack of income.
- receiving unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance.
- having moved abroad, except when said move is for the purpose of performing voluntary
work or to follow advanced vocational training for a period of less than six months, in which
cases a temporary withdrawal is possible.
- voluntarily turning down the active integration wage.
- unlawfully collecting the active integration wage.
Performing paid work for a period of less than six months will entail a temporary withdrawal
from the programme, it being possible to rejoin the programme if the cessation of work is
involuntary, if the individual applies to rejoin and if the individual renews his undertaking to
work. However, in those cases where the work is compatible with the collection of the active
integration wage (see the Contents section of this measure), there will be no withdrawal. The
conditions in connection with being a job-seeker and taking part in workforce integration
activities will be temporarily suspended.
Assistance for unemployed casual agricultural workers under the Special Agricultural
Social Security Scheme - REASS (formerly section 4.4, currently section 4.5, Chap. II)
The section on assistance for unemployed casual agricultural workers under the special
Agricultural Social Security Scheme (REASS), the contents of which does not change, has
moved to section 4.5, Chapter II. The active integration wage is now part of special
unemployment protection, which differs from contributory unemployment benefit and
unemployment assistance.
15
CHAPTER III: ACTIVE MEASURES
MEASURES TO PROMOTE TRAINING, RETRAINING AND OCCUPATIONAL
MOBILITY
Further training (replacement of section 1.4, Chap. III)
Aim
Further training is taken to mean all training activities pursued by businesses, workers or their
respective organisations for the purpose of improving skills and qualifications and for
requalifying employed workers, and making it possible to render the enhanced
competitiveness of business compatible with the individual training of workers.
In the 3rd Tripartite Agreement on Further Training, the management of further training is
entrusted to the new Tripartite Foundation for Employment Training, in which are involved
representatives of the government, employers' organisations and trade union organisations,
thereby extending beyond the dual function of the former system in which FORCEM, with
the involvement of the most representative employer's organisations and trade union
organisations, was the government's managing body (via INEM) and effected payments to
fund training activities.
Legal basis
3rd National Further Training Agreement. 3rd Tripartite Agreement on Further Training.
Agreement of the Council of Ministers of 13 March 1998 approving the New Vocational
Training Programme. Order of 26 June 2001. Resolution of 2 July 2001, amended by the
Resolution of 26 November 20019.
Contents
Under the 2nd National Programme on Vocational Training (1998-2002) and the 3rd National
Agreement on Further Training, further training finances the following:
o company training plans submitted by companies having at least 100 employees.
o sector-wide group training plans for two or more companies that jointly employ the
minimum and maximum number of job-seekers, which in turn establishes the relevant
notice. Applications for these plans may be submitted by groups of companies, the
most representative employers' organisation and trade union organisations, bipartisan
foundations established for the purpose of training workers, cooperative organisations
and labour associations.
9
Resolution of 2 February 2001 of the Directorate-General for Labour stipulating inclusion in the Register and
publication of the 3rd National Further Training Agreement signed on 19 December 2000 (Spanish Official
Journal, 23 February 2001)
Resolution of 1 February 2001 of the Under-Secretariat, publicising the 3rd Tripartite Agreement on Further
Training (Spanish Official Journal, 15 February 2001)
Order of 26 June 2001 establishing the regulatory basis for the granting of further training aid, with financing
provided for in the 3rd Tripartite Agreement on Further Training (Spanish Official Journal, 29 June 2001)
Resolution of 2 July 2001 of the Directorate-General of INEM approving the granting of aid for further training
schemes for 2001 (Spanish Official Journal, 6 July 2001), amended by the Resolution of 6 November 2001
(Spanish Official Journal, 14 December 2001)
16
o specific social economy training plans. Applications for these plans may be submitted
by federations and confederations of cooperatives or labour associations.
o intersectoral training plans, which may be submitted by the most representative
employers' organisations or trade union organisations, and whose purpose is to train
workers in multidisciplinary skills.
o individual training leave.
o preparatory activities and support for training.
In addition, the training initiatives are financed directly for workers under the Special
Agricultural Social Security Scheme (REASS), for self-employed workers and for workers
who, although unemployed, find themselves in one of the following situations:
o part-time workers and permanent employees whose employment has been suspended,
during their periods of unemployment.
o workers who become unemployed during their training period.
o workers covered under the employment legislation during the periods when their
employment is suspended, with the conditions and characteristics in all cases set by
INEM.
o other cases which may be granted by the Tripartite Commission for further training,
comprising the trade union organisations and employers' organisations that signed the
3rd National Agreement on Further Training.
The aims of further training within the context of the New Vocational Training Programme
are:
o to develop further training in order to improve vocational qualifications and
integration into other subsystems.
o to establish the certification of further training activities, said certification to be
incorporated in the system of vocational certification.
o to encourage training for employed workers as an essential tool for enhancing the
competitiveness of companies and increasing the stability of employed workers by
making them more adaptable and employable.
o to improve the processes of monitoring and assessing further training.
Financial resources
Basic financing comes from allocating at least 50% of the share of vocational training to
financing training initiatives for employed workers, with the remainder going towards
vocational training for the unemployed. The proportion is 0.70% of the social security
contributory base for industrial accidents and occupational diseases. These programmes are
co-financed by the European Social Fund.
Institutional resources
The Tripartite Foundation for Employment Training awards aid for further training. INEM
pays this aid, further to an administrative resolution from its Directorate-General.
Effects
In 2001 some 134,000 million pesetas was spent on further training for workers. More than
one million individuals benefited from such training.
17
Training through the convergence of the education system and work experience (partial
modification to section 1.5, Chap. III)
The programmes of workshop schools (Escuelas-Taller) and youth training centres (Casas de
Oficio) are now governed by new legislation, as is the programme of employment workshops
(Talleres de Empleo), each via an order dated 14 November 2001 unifying their legislation
and thereby modifying the Legal basis and Contents paragraphs of this section.
Legal basis
Organic Law 1/1990 (3 October). Law 63/1997 (26 December). Legislation on the National
Vocational Training and Integration Plan. Royal Decree 1593/1994 (15 July). Resolution of
the Directorate-General of INEM (7 July 1995). New National Vocational Training
Programme approved by the Council of Ministers on 13 March 1998. Royal Decree 488/1988
(27 March). Royal Decree 282/1999 (22 February). Orders of 14 November 200110. (1) (2)
Contents
Under the new legislation, all participants in workshop schools (Escuelas-Taller), youth
training centres (Casas de Oficio) and employment workshops (Talleres de Empleo) will also
have access to training in new information and communication technologies via a computer
literacy module. This training will last at least 30 hours.
Experimental training and workforce integration programme in information and
communication technologies (new section 1.6, Chap. III)
Aim
To finance the experimental implementation of vocational training schemes targeting the
workforce integration of job-seekers by providing them with a qualification in information
and communication technologies.
Legal basis
Royal Decree 631/1993 (3 May). Law 13/2000 (28 December). Order of 19 April 2001. Order
of 2 November 2001.11
10
Law 63/1997 (26 December) on urgent measures to improve the labour market and encourage open-ended
employment (Spanish Official Journal, 30 December 1997)
Order of 14 November 2001 regulating the Escuelas-Taller and Casas de Oficio programme, and Promotion and
Development Units, and establishing the regulatory foundation for granting public subsidies to said programmes
(Spanish Official Journal, 21 November 2001)
Royal Decree 488/1998 (27 March) governing Article 11 of the Workers' Statute in the area of training contracts
(Spanish Official Journal, 9 April 1998)
Royal Decree 282/1999 (22 February) establishing the Talleres de Empleo programme (Spanish Official Journal,
23 February 1999)
Order of 14 November 2001 governing Royal Decree 282/1999 (22 February) establishing the Talleres de
Empleo programme and establishing the regulatory foundation for granting public subsidies to said programme
(Spanish Official Journal, 21 November 2001)
11
State Budget Law 13/2000 (28 December) for 2001 (Spanish Official Journal, 29 December 2000)
Order of 19 April 2001 establishing the regulatory foundation for the granting of public aid for the
implementation of an experimental ICT training and workforce integration programme for job-seekers, and
governing the specifications of said programme (Spanish Official Journal, 27 April 2001)
18
Contents
o Provision of training courses attended by job-seekers in the high-demand training
specialisms for ICT-related professions.
o Work experience in companies, in accordance with the legal system governing the
National Training and Workforce Integration Plan (FIP Plan), for students who pass
training courses. Work experiences are based on agreements signed between the
INEM cooperating body which provides the training and the companies in which the
work experiences are carried out. Work experiences do not suppose the existence of
labour relations between students and the company.
o Public financing of:
the costs of teaching training courses. The subsidy may not exceed 65%
of the cost incurred in accordance with the legislation governing the
FIP Plan. The remaining 35% is provided by the participating
companies.
the costs of engaging in work experiences in companies in respect of
tutors, student accident insurance, teaching materials and other costs
inherent in work experiences.
the costs of coordinating the teaching of training, providing in-
company work experiences, and selecting those companies in which
students will carry out their work experience.
o Recipients of subsidies are public or independent associations and foundations in the
ICT sector which sign the appropriate agreement with INEM and which have training
experience.
o Students do not have to pay for training, are provided with accident insurance and can
be entitled to subsidies under the FIP Plan.
o The aims of workforce integration are that a minimum of 60% of students should
complete the training process, in accordance with the agreements signed between
INEM and the cooperating bodies.
Financial resources and Institutional resources
National Employment Institute, the Autonomous Communities, where appropriate, and the
participating companies.
Order of 2 November 2001 amending the Order of 19 April 2001 establishing the regulatory foundation for the
granting of public aid for the implementation of an experimental ICT training and workforce integration
programme for job-seekers, and governing the specifications of said programme (Spanish Official Journal, 9
November 2001)
19
MEASURES TO PROMOTE JOB CREATION
Contractual measures having no economic incentive
Fixed-term contract (partial modification to section 3.1.b, Chap.III)
Law 12/2001 (9 July) on Urgent Measures to Reform the Labour Market to increase and
improve the quality of employment institutionalises, by reforming Article 15 of the Workers'
Statute, the integration contract as a new type of fixed-term contract (see section 3.1.a, Chap.
II, Types of employment contract)
This legislation establishes:
o for fixed-term contracts having a duration of less than seven days, with the exception
of fixed-term employment contracts, an increase of 36% in the company's social
security contribution for common contingencies.
o for contracts which terminate upon reaching their term or upon the completion of the
work or performance of the service that was the object of the contract, with the
exception of fixed-term employment contracts, integration contracts and training
contracts, compensation of eight days' wages per year of service for the worker until
the end of the contract, unless another amount is defined via collective bargaining or
in applicable legislation.
Training contract (partial modification to section 3.1.d, Chap. III)
Law 12/2001 (9 July) on Urgent Measures to Reform the Labour Market to increase and
improve the quality of employment broadens the groups of unemployed persons to whom the
maximum established age limit for signing training contracts are not applicable. These groups
are:
o disabled workers
o foreign workers during the first two years of their work permit
o workers who have been out of work for more than three years
o socially excluded workers
o workers who are worker-students in Escuelas-Taller, Casas de Oficios or Talleres de
Empleo.
Measures to promote employment with financial incentives
Law 12/200112 incorporates the employment promotion programme for 2001, which, in
comparison with 2000, adds sufficient changes to make the full reworking of sections 3.2.1
and 3.2.2 of Chap. III advisable. In addition, the employment promotion programme for 2001
was extended into 2002 by Law 24/2001 (27 December) (see summary on p. 21).
Furthermore, the Interconfederal Agreement on Employment Stability and Law 63/1997
introduced the contract to encourage open-ended employment, including lower compensation
for wrongful dismissal of 33 days per year of service (up to a maximum of 24 months of
wages), compared to 45 days per year of service (with a maximum of 42 months of wages),
generally applicable to open-ended employment. In this connection, Law 12/2001 establishes
12
Law 12/2001 (9 July) on Urgent Measures to Reform the Labour Market to increase and improve the quality
of employment (Spanish Official Journal, 12 July 2001)
20
new groups entitled to negotiate - as from 4 March 2001 - the contract to promote open-
ended employment. These new groups are:
o young people aged 16-30;
o women hired in professions with a low level of female employment;
o workers aged over 45;
o workers who have been unemployed for at least six months;
o disabled workers;
o workers who, on the date of the conclusion of the new contract promoting open-ended
employment, were employed at the same company under a fixed-term or fixed-term
contract, including training contracts, concluded prior to 31 December 2003.
21
EMPLOYMENT PROMOTION PROGRAMME 2002 *
Law 12/2001 (9 July 2001) and Law 24/2001 (27 December) (Spanish Official Journal, 31 December 2001)
Unemployed by group Reduction in Duration of benefit
employer's social
security contributions
for common
contingencies
Open-ended employment, full-time or part-time
Unemployed for at least 6 months1,3 20% 30%2 24 months
Aged 45-651,3 50% 60%2 first 12 months
45% 55%2 remainder of term
Aged 55-651,3 55% 65%2 First 12 months
50% 60%2 remainder of term
Recipients of unemployment benefit with at least one year to go1 50% 60%2 first 12 months
45% 55%2 from 13th-24th month
Unemployed taking part in programme with active integration wage1 65% 75%2 24 months
Women aged 16-451 25% 24 months
Women in professions Over 45 or unemployed for more than 6 months1 70% first 12 months
with low percentage 60% from 13th-24th month
of women1,3 Under 45, unemployed for less than 6 months1 35% 24 months
Unemployed for at least 12 months, hired in the 24 months following birth 100% 12 months
of child
Recipients of unemployment benefit for unemployed casual agricultural 90% first 12 months
workers under the special Agricultural Social Security Scheme1 85% from 13th-24th month
Open-ended or fixed-term contract, full-time or part-time
Workers threatened by social exclusion hired by non-profit businesses and 65% 24 months
bodies
Conversion of fixed-term contracts into open-ended employment
Fixed-term and limited-duration contracts signed prior to 1/1/02 and 25% 24 months
converted prior to 31/12/02; and training contracts, replacement contracts
and substitution contracts irrespective of when they were signed
Conversion of fixed-term contracts into open-ended employment, part-time
Work-experience contracts or replacement contracts initially signed on a 25% 24 months
part-time basis, retaining the daily duration as a minimum3
Table drawn up on 29/1/02
(1) If this is the first employee of a self-employed worker who registered prior to 2/1/01 and who did not
have any wage-earning employees for the performance of his activity in the 12 preceding months, the
reduction in contributions rises by 5 percentage points.
(2) Amount of the reduction in contributions in the event that the contract is a full-time contract for a
woman. To this amount must be added, where appropriate, the increase stipulated in note 1.
(3) In addition, these groups may sign the contract to promote open-ended employment, which
established compensation of 33 days' wages per year of service (maximum of 24 months) in the event
of wrongful dismissal. The following groups may sign the contract to promote open-ended
employment: young people aged 16-30, women hired in professions with a low level of women,
workers over 45, workers who have been unemployed for at least 6 months and workers who, on the
date of the signature of their new contract to promote open-ended employment, were employed in the
same company under a fixed-term or fixed-term contract, including training contracts, signed prior to
31 December 2003.
(*) Reductions are mutually incompatible, meaning that the beneficiary must opt only for those that correspond
to just one of the cases in which a given worker is found. Efforts to promote the employment of disabled
workers continue under the same terms as in 2001.
22
Promotion of open-ended employment for certain groups (replacement of section 3.2.1, Chap.
III)
g) UNEMPLOYED WOMEN AGED 16-45
Aim
To encourage full-time or part-time open-ended employment for unemployed women aged
16-45.
Legal basis
Law 55/1999 (29 December). Law 12/2001 (9 July). Law 24/2001 (27 December).
Contents
Initial full-time or part-time contracts signed in 2002 give rise to:
o a 25% reduction in the employer's social security contributions for common
contingencies during the following 24 months.
o This reduction is increased by 5 percentage points in the event of the first employee
hired by a self-employed worker who registered prior to 2/1/01. The self-employed
worker may not have had wage-earning employees for the performance of his activity
in the preceding 12 months.
Financial resources
National Employment Institute and the European Social Fund.
Institutional resources
National Employment Institute or the Autonomous Communities to which powers in this area
have been devolved.
Effects
The reform targeted 225,000 women aged 16-45 in the year 2001. Of these women, 150,000
will have a full-time contract and 75,000 a part-time contract.
h) UNEMPLOYED WOMEN IN PROFESSIONS AND OCCUPATIONS WITH A
LOW LEVEL OF WOMEN
Aim
To encourage full-time and part-time open-ended employment for unemployed women in
professions and occupations with a low level of female employment.
Legal basis
23
Law 55/1999 (29 December). Law 12/2001 (9 July). Law 24/2001 (27 December). Ministerial
Order of 16 September 199813.
13
Ministerial Order of 16 September 1998 to encourage stable employment of women in professions and
occupations with a low level of female employment (Spanish Official Journal, 29 September 1998)
24
Contents
Initial full-time and part-time contracts signed in 2002 give rise to:
o a 70% reduction in the employers' social security contributions for common
contingencies during the first year of the contract and 60% during the second year, if
the hired worker was registered as unemployed for at least six months or if she is older
than 45.
o a 35% reduction in the employers' social security contributions for common
contingencies during the 24 months following the signature of the contract, if the hired
worker was not registered as unemployed for at least six months and is under the age
or 45.
o The reduction is increased by 5 percentage points in the event of the first employee
hired by a self-employed worker who registered prior to 2/1/02. The self-employed
worker may not have had any wage-earning employees for the performance of his
activity during the 12 preceding months.
Financial resources
National Employment Institute and the European Social Fund.
Institutional resources
National Employment Institute or the Autonomous Communities to which powers in this area
have been devolved.
Effects
Provision was made to provide reductions for 100,000 contracts for the following groups:
women in professions in which they are underrepresented, recipients of benefit, recipients of
the active integration wage, disabled workers, first employee of a self-employed worker and
social excluded workers.
i) WOMEN OFFICIALLY REGISTERED AS UNEMPLOYED FOR AT LEAST 12
MONTHS WHO ARE HIRED IN THE 24 MONTHS FOLLOWING THE DATE ON
WHICH THEY GAVE BIRTH
Aim
To encourage full-time and part-time open-ended employment for women who have had a
child and who are long-term unemployed.
Legal basis
Law 55/1999 (29 December). Law 12/2001 (9 July). Law 24/2001 (27 December).
Contents
Initial contracts, either full-time or part-time, signed in 2002 give rise to:
25
o a 100% reduction in the employer's social security contributions for common
contingencies during the 12 months following the entry into force of the contract.
Financial resources
National Employment Institute and the European Social Fund.
Institutional resources
National Employment Institute or the Autonomous Communities to which powers in this area
have been devolved.
j) UNEMPLOYED WORKERS OFFICIALLY REGISTERED AS UNEMPLOYED
FOR AN UNINTERRUPTED PERIOD OF AT LEAST SIX MONTHS
Aim
To promote full-time and part-time open-ended employment for workers who have been
unemployed for at least six months and who are officially registered as unemployed.
Legal basis
Law 55/1999 (29 December). Law 12/2001 (9 July). Law 24/2001 (27 December).
Contents
Initial full-time or part-time contracts signed in 2002 give rise to:
o a 20% reduction in the employer's social security contributions for common
contingencies during the 24 months following the entry into force of the contract. If
the contracts are full-time contracts involving women, the reduction rises by 10
percentage points.
o The reduction is increased by 5 percentage points in the event of the first employee
hired by a self-employed worker who registered prior to 2/1/01. The self-employed
worker may not have had wage-earning employees, for the performance of his
activity, in the preceding 12 months.
Financial resources
National Employment Institute and the European Social Fund.
Institutional resources
National Employment Institute or the Autonomous Communities to which powers in this area
have been devolved.
Effects
It is estimated that there were approximately 125,000 beneficiaries in 2001 who have been
unemployed for more than six months.
26
k) UNEMPLOYED WORKERS AGED 45 TO 55
Aim
To promote open-ended employment, both full-time and part-time, for unemployed workers
aged 45-55
Legal basis
Law 55/1999 (29 December). Law 12/2001 (9 July). Law 24/2001 (27 December).
Contents
Initial full-time or part-time contracts signed in 2002 give rise to:
• a 50% reduction in the employers' social security contributions for common
contingencies during the first year of the contract and 45% during the remainder of the
contract. If the contract is a full-time contract for women, then the reduction is
increased by 10 percentage points.
o The reduction is increased by 5 percentage points in the event of the first employee
hired by a self-employed worker who registered prior to 2/1/02. The self-employed
worker may not have had any wage-earning employees for the performance of his
activity during the 12 preceding months.
Financial resources
National Employment Institute and the European Social Fund.
Institutional resources
National Employment Institute or the Autonomous Communities to which powers in this area
have been devolved.
Effects
It is estimated that in 2002 some 100,000 unemployed workers aged 45 or over will take
advantage of this new legislation.
l) UNEMPLOYED WORKERS AGED 55 TO 65
Aim
To promote open-ended employment, both full-time and part-time, for unemployed workers
aged 55-65
Legal basis
Law 55/1999 (29 December). Law 12/2001 (9 July). Law 24/2001 (27 December).
27
Contents
Initial full-time or part-time contracts signed in 2002 give rise to:
• a 55% reduction in the employers' social security contributions for common
contingencies during the first year of the contract and 50% during the remainder of the
contract. If the contract is a full-time contract for women, then the reduction is
increased by 10 percentage points.
o The reduction is increased by 5 percentage points in the event of the first employee
hired by a self-employed worker who registered prior to 2/1/02. The self-employed
worker may not have had any wage-earning employees for the performance of his
activity during the 12 preceding months.
Financial resources
National Employment Institute and the European Social Fund.
Institutional resources
National Employment Institute or the Autonomous Communities to which powers in this area
have been devolved.
Effects
It is estimated that in 2001 100,000 new contracts taking advantage of this reduction will be
signed with unemployed workers aged 45 or over.
As a supplement to previous programmes for unemployed workers aged 45-55 and 55-65, the
PROGRAMME FOR THE WORKFORCE INTEGRATION OF LONG-TERM
UNEMPLOYED WORKERS AGED 45 OR OVER was included in 2001 (replacement of the
text corresponding to this workforce integration programme for the year 2000, section 3.2.1.c,
Chap. III).
Aim
To maximise, in 2001, the requalification and employment of long-term unemployed workers
aged 45 and over who are in a difficult situation and who are seeking workforce integration
via involvement in a programme that includes active employment policies and the receipt of
the form of financial aid known as the active integration wage.
Legal basis
Royal Decree 781/2001 (6 July)14
Contents
The job-seeker must sign an undertaking to work by virtue of which measures are taken to
encourage his integration into the workforce in agreement with the public employment offices
14
Royal Decree 781/2001 (6 July) governing an active integration wage programme for the year 2001 for long-
term unemployed workers aged 45 or over (Spanish Official Journal, 7 July 2001)
28
or, where appropriate, cooperating bodies. The programme includes the following
complementary workforce integration activities:
• Personalised tutoring. Assessment and creation of a workforce integration plan agreed
with the job-seeker, with monthly follow-up and updates. The assigned tutor proposes
and assesses measures to make the job-seeker more employable.
• Workforce integration plan. Following the occupational assessment, the purpose of
which is to precisely define the job-seeker's occupational profile on the basis of
information from the public employment offices, a personal workforce integration
plan is drawn up within two weeks after admission to the programme. Depending on
the job-seeker's personal characteristics, occupational experience and training, the
employment tutor and the job-seeker establish which activities are to be followed and
the timetable for doing so.
• Managing placement offers. When a placement offer comes in that fits the job-seeker's
occupational profile, the tutor encourages him to take part in the recruitment process,
the aim being to process placement offers managed by the public employment offices
or by cooperating bodies.
• Inclusion in employment and/or training plans. If the job-seeker has not found a job
within 45 days of joining the programme, the public employment offices will give
priority treatment to his file, making sure to include him in one of the following
plans/programmes:
o National Vocational Training and Integration Plan, when the worker requires
specific vocational training or when his qualification is insufficient or
inadequate. The objective is to give him the qualifications required by industry
and to find him a job.
o Employment Workshop Programme. The aim of this programme is to give the
job-seeker the vocational training and work experience needed to facilitate his
reintegration into the labour market.
o Plans to hire unemployed persons to perform work and services in the general
and social interest. The purpose of these plans is to give the job-seeker relevant
vocational experience.
o Other actions to make the job-seeker more employable, such as providing
support with finding a job and providing information on self-employment.
• Opportunity to perform volunteer work.
Beginning in their third month in the programme workers receive the active integration wage,
equivalent to 75% of the interprofessional minimum wage applicable in 2001, excluding the
proportional part of two exceptional payments. The maximum duration of the wage is 10
months.
Financial resources
Financed out of the budget of the National Employment Institute.
Institutional resources
National Employment Institute or the public employment offices of the Autonomous
Communities.
29
g) UNEMPLOYED WORKERS WHO ARE RECEIVING UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT
OR ASSISTANCE AND WHO HAVE AT LEAST ONE YEAR OF ELIGIBILITY AT THE
TIME OF EMPLOYMENT
Aim
To promote full-time and part-time open-ended employment for workers who have been
unemployed workers who are receiving unemployment benefit or assistance.
Legal basis
Law 55/1999 (29 December). Law 12/2001 (9 July). Law 24/2001 (27 December).
Contents
Initial full-time or part-time contracts signed in 2002 give rise to:
• a 50% reduction in the employers' social security contributions for common
contingencies during the first year of the contract and 45% during the remainder of the
contract. If the contract is a full-time contract for women, then the reduction is
increased by 10 percentage points.
o The reduction is increased by 5 percentage points in the event of the first employee
hired by a self-employed worker who registered prior to 2/1/02. The self-employed
worker may not have had any wage-earning employees for the performance of his
activity during the 12 preceding months.
Financial resources
National Employment Institute and the European Social Fund.
Institutional resources
National Employment Institute or the Autonomous Communities to which powers in this area
have been devolved.
h) UNEMPLOYED WORKERS RECEIVING SPECIFIC AID, NAMELY THE ACTIVE
INTEGRATION WAGE
Aim
To promote open-ended full-time or part-time contracts for unemployed workers receiving
specific aid, namely the active integration wage
Legal basis
Law 55/1999 (29 December). Law 12/2001 (9 July). Law 24/2001 (27 December).
Contents
Initial full-time or part-time contracts signed in 2002 give rise to:
30
o a 65% reduction in the employer's social security contributions for common
contingencies during the 24 months following the entry into force of the contract. If
the contracts are full-time contracts involving women, then the reduction is increased
by 10 percentage points.
o The reduction is increased by 5 percentage points in the event of the first employee
hired by a self-employed worker who registered prior to 2/1/01. The self-employed
worker may not have had wage-earning employees, for the performance of his
activity, in the preceding 12 months.
Financial resources
National Employment Institute and the European Social Fund.
Institutional resources
National Employment Institute or the Autonomous Communities to which powers in this area
have been devolved.
Effects
It is estimated that in 2001 some 100,000 contracts will benefit from this measure, specifically
the following groups: women in professions in which they are underrepresented, recipients of
the active integration wage, disabled workers, the first employee of a self-employed worker
and socially excluded workers.
i) UNEMPLOYED WORKERS RECEIVING ASSISTANCE UNDER THE SPECIAL
AGRICULTURAL SOCIAL SECURITY SCHEME - REASS
Aim
To promote full-time and part-time open-ended employment for unemployed workers
receiving assistance under the Special Agricultural Social Security Scheme (REASS).
Legal basis
Law 55/1999 (29 December). Law 12/2001 (9 July). Law 24/2001 (27 December).
Contents
Initial full-time or part-time contracts signed in 2002 give rise to:
o a 90% reduction in the employers' social security contributions for common
contingencies during the first year of the contract and 85% during the second year.
o The reduction is increased by 5 percentage points in the event of the first employee
hired by a self-employed worker who registered prior to 2/1/02. The self-employed
worker may not have had any wage-earning employees for the performance of his
activity during the 12 preceding months.
31
Financial resources
National Employment Institute and the European Social Fund.
Institutional resources
National Employment Institute or the Autonomous Communities to which powers in this area
have been devolved.
j) OPEN-ENDED OR FIXED-TERM CONTRACT FOR UNEMPLOYED WORKERS
THREATENED BY SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN NON-PROFIT COMPANIES
Aim
To promote the hiring of unemployed workers threatened by social exclusion by non-profit
companies or bodies. The employment contract may be fixed-term or open-ended, part-time
or full-time.
Legal basis
Law 55/1999 (29 December). Law 12/2001 (9 July). Law 24/2001 (27 December).
Contents
The social services draw up an integration plan approved by the worker and verify the
worker's social exclusion.
The target groups are:
• recipients of the minimum integration wage or a similar benefit.
• individuals who do not have access to the above-mentioned benefits since they do not
meet the condition governing period of residence, registration or have exhausted the
maximum period established by law for receiving benefit.
• young peopled aged 18-30 from institutions for the protection of minors.
• individuals coping with drug addiction or alcoholism who are currently undergoing
the rehabilitation or social reintegration process.
• prison inmates, whose situation allows them to have a job, as well as individuals
released on parole and former inmates.
Initial full-time or part-time contracts signed in 2002 give rise to:
• a 65% reduction in the employer's social security contributions for common
contingencies during the first two years of the contract.
Financial resources
National Employment Institute and the European Social Fund.
Institutional resources
32
National Employment Institute or the Autonomous Communities to which powers in this area
have been devolved.
33
Effects
In 2001 provision was made for 100,000 contracts to benefit from the reduction. These
contracts target the following groups: women in professions in which they are
underrepresented, recipients of benefit, recipients of the active integration wage, disabled
workers, first employee of a self-employed worker and social excluded workers.
k) EMPLOYMENT OF THE FIRST EMPLOYEE BY SELF-EMPLOYED WORKERS
See Chap. III, points 3.2.1.a, b., d., e., f., g., h., and i. of this update.
l) DISABLED UNEMPLOYED WORKERS
In 2002 subsidies and reductions in social security contributions to promote the employment
of disabled workers were maintained under the same terms as in 2001.
Law 24/2001 governs, via its additional fifth provision, a series of cases in which the said
subsidies and reductions do not apply. It also establishes, via its sixth provision, that the
minimum level of disability must be equal to or greater than 33%, with a reduction in the
capacity to work equal to or greater than said percentage, in order to create the entitlement to
benefits established in the measures to promote employment of disabled workers, and so that
a worker may be placed for work experience or for disability training.
With respect to the measure to reserve jobs for the disabled, Law 24/2001, via its additional
seventh provision, amends Law 13/1982 (7 April) establishing that disabled workers
rendering services in businesses, under supply contracts which said companies have signed
with temporary employment agencies, shall be included in the calculation of reserved jobs.
Conversion of fixed-term contracts into open-ended contracts (replacement of section 3.2.2,
Chap.III)
d) TRAINING CONTRACTS, REPLACEMENT CONTRACTS AND
SUBSTITUTION CONTRACTS
Aim
To facilitate the stable full-time or part-time placement of workers subject to training
contracts, replacement contracts and substitution contracts prior to the retirement age.
Legal basis
Law 55/1999 (29 December). Law 12/2001 (9 July). Law 24/2001 (27 December).
Contents
• Employers who convert, in 2002, apprenticeship contracts, work-experience contracts,
training contracts, replacement contracts and substitution contracts into open-ended
training contracts enjoy a 25% reduction in their share of the social security
34
contributions in respect of common contingencies for 24 months following the entry
into force of the new contract.
• Employers who, in 2002, convert work-experience contracts and replacement
contracts which were initially part-time contracts into part-time open-ended contracts
enjoy a 25% reduction in their share of the social security contributions in respect of
common contingencies for 24 months following said conversion. The working day of
the new open-ended contract must be at least equal to that of the converted work-
experience contract or replacement contract.
Financial resources
National Employment Institute and the European Social Fund.
Institutional resources
National Employment Institute or the Autonomous Communities to which powers in this area
have been devolved.
Effects
It is estimated that in 2001 the fixed-term contracts of 215,000 workers will be converted into
open-ended contracts, of which approximately 200,000 full-time and 15,000 part-time.
e) FIXED-TERM CONTRACTS
Aim
To facilitate the stable full-time or part-time employment of workers subject to fixed-term
contracts signed prior to 1 January 2002.
Legal basis
Law 55/1999 (29 December). Law 12/2001 (9 July). Law 24/2001 (27 December).
Contents
• Employers who, in 2002, convert fixed-term contracts into open-ended contracts enjoy
a 25% reduction in their share of the social security contributions in respect of
common contingencies for 24 months following the entry into force of the new
contract.
Financial resources
National Employment Institute and the European Social Fund.
Institutional resources
National Employment Institute or the Autonomous Communities to which powers in this area
have been devolved.
35
Effects
It is estimated that the fixed-term contracts of 215,000 individuals will be converted into
open-ended contracts.
36
f) FIXED-TERM CONTRACTS FOR DISABLED WORKERS
Law 24/2001 (27 December) maintains, for 2002, the subsidies and reductions for the
conversion of fixed-term contracts for disabled workers into open-ended contracts, under the
same terms as in 2001.
Promotion of fixed-term employment for special groups
FIXED-TERM EMPLOYMENT FOR DISABLED WORKERS COVERED BY
EMPLOYMENT-PROMOTION MEASURES (partial modification to point 3.2.3.1, Chap.
III)
Law 24/2001 maintains, for 2002, subsidies to promote the employment of disabled workers
under the same terms as in 2001, and establishes, via its sixth provision, that the minimum
level of disability must be equal to or greater than 33%, with a reduction in the capacity to
work equal to or greater than said percentage, in order to create the entitlement to benefits
established in the measures to promote employment of disabled workers.
TRAINING CONTRACTS FOR DISABLED WORKERS: TRAINING CONTRACT AND
WORK-EXPERIENCE CONTRACT (partial modification to point 3.2.3.b, Chap. III)
Law 24/2001 establishes, via its sixth provision, that the minimum level of disability must be
equal to or greater than 33%, with a reduction in the capacity to work equal to or greater than
said percentage, so that a worker may be employed under a work-experience contract or for
training targeting disabled workers.
EMPLOYMENT OF DISABLED WORKERS TO TEMPORARILY REPLACE WORKERS
ON PARENTAL LEAVE, ADOPTION LEAVE OR FOSTER CARE LEAVE, AND TO
REPLACE WORKERS WHO HAVE SUSPENDED THEIR EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT
DUE TO PREGNANCY (partial modification to point 3.2.3.c, Chap. III)
Since 1998, employers who sign fixed-term contracts with unemployed workers to replace
workers who have suspended their contracts for parental leave, adoption leave, foster care
leave, or due to risks during pregnancy have enjoyed a 100% reduction in their share of social
security contributions.
Law 12/2001 (9 July) extends the 100% reduction in the employer's share of social security
contributions to include the contributions for their own replaced workers. In this case, the
maximum duration of the reduction will coincide with the suspension of employment of the
replaced worker. The reasons for such suspension and the fixed-term contract of the
replacement worker must coincide in time.
Measures and programmes to support company initiatives and job creation
PROMOTION OF EMPLOYMENT IN COOPERATIVES (partial modification to point
3.4.d, Chap. III)
37
The order of 26 November 200115 amends the Order of 29 December 1998 bringing it in line
with the 'Entrepreneurial Initiative and Further Training' programmes of the European Social
Fund approved for Objective 1 and 3 regions.
15
Order of 26 November 2001 supplementing the Order of 29 December 1998 establishing the regulatory
foundation for the granting of public aid and subsidies for the 'Development of the Social Economy' programme
(Spanish Official Journal, 14 December 2001)
38
MEASURES TO PROMOTE SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF WORKERS (insertion of a
new section 4.6, Chap. III)
Workers who have reached retirement age (new section 4.6, Chap. III)
Extension of career and gradual, flexible retirement (new point 4.6a, Chap. III)
Aim
To achieve the permanent employment of older workers, avoiding early retirement, making
possible a more flexible retirement age and making retirement gradual and progressive.
Legal basis
Royal Decree-Law 16/2001 (27 December)16.
Contents
• Employers who sign open-ended employment with workers aged 60 or over and have
at least 5 years service with the company enjoy a 50% reduction in their share of
social security contributions for common contingencies (except temporary incapacity).
Said reduction is increased by 10 percentage points per year, up to a maximum of
100%.
• Reforms the legislation governing partial retirement, ensuring compatibility between
receiving a social security pension and performing part-time work from the time at
which the worker begins receiving said pension. During this situation , the amount of
the pension is reduced in an inversely proportional manner to the reduction in the
length of working time. In other words, if a worker retires and decides to continue
working 75% time, he will receive 25% of the pension that he would normally receive
for full retirement.
• An exemption is established for workers aged 65 or over who have been making
contributions for at least 35 years. Under this exemption, neither employers nor
workers have to pay social security contributions for common contingencies (except
temporary incapacity), unemployment, Income Guarantee Fund and vocational
training. The workers covered in the Special Scheme for Self-Employed Workers are
exempt from paying social security contributions, except in the event of temporary
incapacity, upon reaching the age of 65 and providing they have paid social security
contributions for at least 35 years.
• In the event of workers who opt to prolong their career, it is established that the
amount of the pension may exceed 100% of the regulatory base when the worker in
question has reached the age of 65 and has paid social security contributions for at
least 35 years. In fact, the 100% of the regulatory base for pensions is supplemented
with an additional 2% for every full year of social security contributions paid after the
age of 65.
Other categories: agricultural workers and unemployed workers threatened with social
exclusion (partial modification to the former section 4.6, currently section 4.7, Chap. III)
16
Royal Decree-Law 16/2001 (27 December) on measures for the establishment of a system of gradual and
flexible retirement (Spanish Official Journal, 31 December 2001)
39
Employment
a) Unemployed workers in receipt of unemployment benefit for workers covered by the
special agricultural social security scheme.
See section 3.2.1.i.
40
b) Open-ended or fixed-term employment of socially excluded unemployed workers in
non-profit companies.
See section 3.2.1.j.
EMPLOYMENT DISTRIBUTION MEASURES
Regulation of working time
Part-time contract (replacement of section 5.1.b, Chap. III)
Aim
To facilitate employment when the production process does not require full-time workers or
when workers cannot perform their work on a full-time basis, thereby promoting the stability
of part-time employment.
Legal basis
Royal Decree 2317/1993 (29 December). Legislative Royal Decree 1/1995 (24 March). Law
63/1997 (26 December). Royal Decree-Law 15/1998 (27 November). Royal Decree 144/1999
(29 January). Law 55/1999 (29 December). Law 12/2001 (9 July).17
Contents
• The employment contract is considered to be a part-time contract when the services
rendered over a given number of hours per day, week, month or year is less than the
working time of a comparable full-time worker or, barring that, less than the
maximum legal working time. The contract may be an open-ended or fixed-term
contract, except in the case of training contracts.
• Part-time workers may not work overtime, except in the event of force majeure.
• Part-time workers under open-ended employment may agree with the employer to
additional working hours on top of the ordinary hours stipulated in the contract. The
contractual number of additional hours may not exceed ordinary hours by 15%, unless
otherwise established in a collective agreement, but in any case may not exceed 60%.
The total number of ordinary and additional hours may not exceed the maximum legal
daily limit for part-time work. Remuneration for additional hours will be the same as
for ordinary hours.
17
Royal Decree 2317/93 (30 December) governing part-time work-experience contracts and apprenticeship
contracts (Spanish Official Journal, 31 December 1993)
Royal Decree-Law 15/1998 (27 November) on urgent measures to improve the labour market in respect of part-
time work and to promote the stability thereof (Spanish Official Journal, 28 November 1998)
Royal Decree 144/1999 (29 January) governing, in respect of social security welfare activities, Royal Decree-
Law 15/1998 (27 November) on urgent measures to improve the labour market in respect of part-time work and
to promote the stability thereof (Spanish Official Journal, 16 February 1999)
Law 55/1999 (29 December) on fiscal, administrative and social measures (Art. 19, amending the Workers'
Statute) (Spanish Official Journal, 30 December 1999)
41
• Social protection under part-time contracts is governed by the principle of establishing
the comparability of part-time workers to full-time workers.
• The monthly basis for social security contributions comprises compensation actually
received on the basis of ordinary and additional hours worked.
• To determine the contribution periods necessary to provide entitlement to social
benefits the equivalent of the hours actually worked by the part-time worker is
calculated in terms of full days. To determine the number of theoretical days of
contributions, the working hours are divided by five, equivalent to dividing one
thousand eight hundred and twenty-six annual working hours among the three hundred
and sixty five days of the year.
• To secure entitlement to the retirement pension and permanent in capacity for work
pension, for the purpose of determining the minimum contribution period necessary
and setting the percentage applicable to the regulatory foundation for the retirement
pension, the coefficient of 1.5 is used when multiplying the theoretical number of days
of contribution.
• Part-time contracts concluded under the Annual Employment Promotion Programme,
as well as other types of subsidised contracts which allow part-time employment, shall
give rise to the securing of incentives. The Programme for 2001 includes the following
groups of beneficiaries: disabled workers, workers who have been unemployed for
more than six months, women (with a broad range of entitlement), workers 45 and
older (with special attention paid to workers aged 55 and over), the first employee for
self-employed workers, socially excluded unemployed workers, recipients of
unemployment assistance or benefit, recipients of the subsidy for agricultural workers,
conversions of certain fixed-term contracts into open-ended employment (see Chap.
III, section 3.2 - Measures to Promote Employment with Financial Incentives).
Retirement and the distribution of work (modification to the title of section 5.2, Chap. III)
Replacement contract (partial modification to point 5.2.1, Chap. III)
Law 12/2001 (9 July) introduced changes to the regulation of the replacement contract.
Contents
Replacement contracts are concluded with workers on the unemployment register or workers
who have a fixed-term contract with the company to take over that part of the time made
available by workers entering partial retirement. Part-time contracts are concluded
simultaneously with these latter workers, whose working day and wage are reduced by
between 25% and 85%.
The social security contributions are proportional to the wages received for the hours and days
actually worked.
MEASURES FOR INTERVENING ON THE LABOUR MARKET. INFORMATION,
VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE AND PLACEMENT.
Measures offering vocational guidance for employment and assistance for self-
employment (partial modification to section 6.3, Chap. III)
42
The Resolution of 30 November 200118 calls for the granting of subsidies for carrying out
vocational guidance actions for employment and assistance with self-employment.
Experimental programmes on new methods of integrating job-seekers into the labour
market (replacement of section 6.5, Chap. III)
Aim
To subsidise the implementation of experimental programmes which explore new alternatives
for integrating specific groups of unemployed workers into the labour market, especially those
groups deemed to be priority groups in the National Action Plan for Employment, as well as
programmes integrating training/employment for job-seekers, with a view to assessing their
effectiveness and extending them across the entire country.
Legal basis
Law 54/1999 (29 December). Order of 30 October 2001. Royal Decree 631/1993 (3 May).
Order of 13 April 199419.
Contents
• Employment plans which aim to test out innovative employment integration schemes
or schemes which are little used in the usual employment promotion programmes.
• Plans which aim to promote the entrepreneurial spirit as set out in the National Action
Plans for Employment and which aim for a combination of training and work
experience in a real business environment. Work experience must account for 70% of
the project.
• Experimental application of vocational training courses corresponding to draft or
approved vocational training certificates, the aim being to verify the degree of
correspondence between the occupational profile and the educational path, as well as
the suitability of the aims, contents, duration and requirements thereof.
• The implementation of training and experimental support schemes aimed at
facilitating the workforce integration of disabled workers, immigrants, women
experiencing integration problems and unemployed workers threatened with a high
risk of social exclusion.
• Course for trainers in information and communication technologies.
18
Resolution of 30 November 2001 of the Directorate-General of the National Employment Institute calling for
the granting of subsidies for implementing vocational guidance actions for employment and assistance with self-
employment for non-profit cooperating bodies (Spanish Official Journal, 22 December 2001)
19
State Budget Law 54/1999 (29 December) for the year 2000 (Spanish Official Journal, 22 November 2000)
Order of 30 October 2001 governing the basis for awarding subsidies for implementing experimental
programmes on training and employment, financed out of the direct management reserve of credits for
promoting employment, by the National Employment Institute as authorised in the State Budget Law - (Spanish
Official Journal, 17 November 2001)
Royal Decree 631/1993 (3 May) governing the national training and integration plan (Spanish Official Journal, 4
May 1993)
Order of 13 April 1994 stipulating the rules for developing Royal Decree 631/1993 (3 May) governing the
national training and integration plan (Spanish Official Journal, 28 April), amended by the Orders of 20
September 1995 (Spanish Official Journal, 14 October 1995) and 14 October 1998 (Spanish Official Journal, 26
October 1998)
43
• Projects aimed at developing virtual simulators, or similar IT tools, for immediate use
in vocational training courses, in occupations or professions in which a poor level of
training is offered or where there is a sustained increase in the demand for qualified
workers.
• Company training schemes targeting job-seekers for their subsequent integration into
the company and applying a system of on-the-job self-training. At least 60% of the
students who receive training through this system for at least six months must be
hired.
• Development of full training/employment plans combining information, vocational
guidance and assessment, training, work experience and geographical mobility. The
integration objectives for unemployed workers taking part must be established in the
project. When all the participants are unemployed workers admitted to the active
integration wage programme, the employment insertion objectives must affect at least
25% of them.
• Generally speaking, at least 40% of the beneficiaries of schemes under these
experimental projects must be receiving unemployment benefit or assistance.
• Subsidies:
o possible aid for participants to cover travel costs, as well as aid for students in
the FIP Plan.
o financing of wage costs and social security contributions for fixed-term
employment of participants and workers with technical or vocational
qualifications who carry out support activities in favour of boosting the
employability of the unemployed.
o cost of premises, power, communications and rent associated with the
operation of services provided to unemployed workers.
o subsidies which are set out in the FIP Plan and which can be increased to 20%
in connection with the experimental nature of projects.
o subsidies set per participant depending on the nature of the project.
• Beneficiary bodies:
o local administrations and, in turn, town councils and island councils (or those
bodies dependent on or associated with a local administration). They must
carry out market prospection, identifying jobs likely to be held by unemployed
workers, and they must show high levels of unemployment or the possibility of
integrating unemployed workers as wage-earners in activities linked to
emerging needs, such as local services, cultural services and leisure services,
the environment and new information and communication technologies.
o non-profit bodies which have experience in carrying out activities aimed at
supporting unemployed workers in finding employment, either with an
employer or on a self-employed basis.
o placement agencies and associated bodies of integrated employment services
which develop full training/employment plans, in addition to the bodies
mentioned in the two preceding points.
44
o public or private bodies, or companies for promoting the entrepreneurial spirit.
They must show consolidated experience in the area of vocational training in
respect of the plan submitted.
o centres cooperating with the FIP Plan for experimental projects involving
vocational certificates.
o public and private non-profit associations, bodies, organisations and
institutions whose aim is to support the training of the group for which a
subsidy has been requested, and which have authorised centres focusing on the
specific area set out in the FIP Plan course providing experimental training
actions targeting specific groups.
o a public or private entity or company which meets the established requirements
and which has been selected because it has received the highest technical
assessment, for the ICT (information and communication technologies) course
for trainers.
o public or private bodies, organisations, associations and companies which have
experience in the development of these IT tools for their application in
training, for projects to develop virtual simulators for use in vocational training
courses.
o public or private bodies and/or companies which show an employment
commitment for projects involving a self-training system.
Institutional resources
National Employment Institute and public/private entities or companies which have been
awarded project development grants.
Financial resources
National Employment Institute. The training actions that are part of the selected projects may
be co-financed by the European Social Fund.
45
CHAPTER IV: LABOUR MARKET STATISTICS
SOURCES OF STATISTICS ON EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT
National Statistical Institute (INE) (partial modification to section 1.A, Chap. IV)
Of the labour market statistics drawn up by the INE, the new quarterly Labour Cost Index
replaces the survey of wages in industry and services, henceforth providing information not
just on wage costs - as the wage survey did - but also on other costs incurred by companies in
their use of the labour factor.
46
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