# Spain creates 160,000 jobs in the best March sincerecords began in 2001



## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

España crea 160.000 empleos en el mejor marzo de su historia | Empleo | EL PAÃ�S

(I looked for the existing thread on this subject but couldn't find it - please fell free to merge)


----------



## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Here too on the edge of the flat world, unemployment has decreased!!


----------



## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

What a coincidence - there are elections coming up next month!

If our town is anything to go by, the ayuntamientos are hiring temporary staff right left and centre to repair and paint things ...


----------



## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Chopera said:


> España crea 160.000 empleos en el mejor marzo de su historia | Empleo | EL PAÃ�S
> 
> (I looked for the existing thread on this subject but couldn't find it - please fell free to merge)


I've added a link to this thread to our FAQs here http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp.../2725-faqs-lots-useful-info-3.html#post879841


----------



## 213979 (Apr 11, 2013)

Alcalaina said:


> What a coincidence - there are elections coming up next month!
> 
> *If our town is anything to go by, the ayuntamientos are hiring temporary staff right left and centre to repair and paint things ...*


You know, I hadn't stopped to think about this bit. However, you're right. It's the same here in Cantabria.


----------



## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

It happens every election year in Madrid - suddenly things start being built or repaired, all the fountains are suddenly switched on, etc


----------



## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

Alcalaina said:


> What a coincidence - there are elections coming up next month!
> 
> If our town is anything to go by, the ayuntamientos are hiring temporary staff right left and centre to repair and paint things ...


Same here. The town has been falling to bits for years, and suddenly there are work crews everywhere, fixing up the streets, the parks, the playgrounds... I can't believe that voters are taken in by that.


----------



## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

kalohi said:


> Same here. The town has been falling to bits for years, and suddenly there are work crews everywhere, fixing up the streets, the parks, the playgrounds... I can't believe that voters are taken in by that.


It's no different in UK with all these petty little non-giveaways by the incumbent government. Unfortunately, there are often sufficient voters who are gullible enough to make a swing in the vote, but is it enough???


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

kalohi said:


> Same here. The town has been falling to bits for years, and suddenly there are work crews everywhere, fixing up the streets, the parks, the playgrounds... I can't believe that voters are taken in by that.


We're getting a brand new town hall out of it!
It sounds a bit over the top, but in fact it was needed as the various departments were dotted all over the town and in buildings that were often not accessible to 50% of the population ie the eldery, parents with pushchairs, disabled etc. Of course it could have been at any time in the last few years, but it's going to be ready ...just befor elections!
On the minus side they demolished the local market to make way for it!


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

The approaches to our village were somewhat scruffy, moribund palms with rubbish strewn on rough ground. Recently the palms have been trimmed, dead ones replaced, the ground smoothed and seeded so now everything is green and tidy and quite attractive. We also had a patch of waste ground turned into a mini park with lawns and flowers. We have a post office, albeit a not very efficient one as it is staffed by one employee and queues are long.
Everyone accepts it's because of the elections but are pleased with the improvements, whatever.


----------



## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> We're getting a brand new town hall out of it!
> It sounds a bit over the top, but in fact it was needed as the various departments were dotted all over the town and in buildings that were often not accessible to 50% of the population ie the eldery, parents with pushchairs, disabled etc. Of course it could have been at any time in the last few years, but it's going to be ready ...just befor elections!
> On the minus side they demolished the local market to make way for it!


We are getting a new Centro de Asuntos Sociales, for similar reasons. The downside is that they have built it in the town's only public car park, so there are abut 20 fewer parking spaces ...


----------



## Leper (May 12, 2010)

Hey Lads, I don't care if these jobs are shaving the hairs off gooseberries. It is a start. Spain has got to start somewhere and if it's shaving gooseberries, it is a start. We have got to start somewhere. Remember a rising tide lifts all ships.


----------



## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Leper said:


> * Remember a rising tide lifts all ships*.


Except those that are so decrepit as to have holes in the bottoms.


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Leper said:


> . Remember a rising tide lifts all ships.


Yes, it does. But..some have luxury yachts, some have dinghies, some have rowing boats...and some have no boat at all.


----------



## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

mrypg9 said:


> Everyone accepts it's because of the elections but are pleased with the improvements, whatever.


That's very much how I feel about it. The list of improvements in my town grows longer by the day. We have a new municipal market which, although unfortunately it's further away from my house, is much busier in it's new location which is good for the stallholders (and a really nice young lad we have known for several years, a school-leaver, has got a job working for one of them). The old market is being converted at present and will be a "space" for public and leisure use, whatever that turns out to be, and an old theatre immediately behind it which has been disused for years is also to be renovated and linked to it, with car parking included. An old grain exchange in the big square close to my house is being almost totally rebuilt (the Ayuntamiento had only been promising to do it for 30 years but now it's happening, should be finished, yes you guessed it, in time for the elections in November). Our local urbano bus service has been completely reorganised and a minibus service inaugurated which gets to parts of the historic centre where buses have never run before. The old disused railway station is to be renovated and turned into a cafeteria/waiting room for the new bus station, much needed.

And several of my neighbours have had temporary contracts working on various projects for the Ayuntamiento for the past few months.

Better that these things happen during an election year than not at all.


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

> *Lynn R* Better that these things happen during an election year than not at all.


Here I am again, but I'm not so sure it is better.
I suppose just from the fact that they may get more money than being on benefit or having nothing, but it's probably a temporary contract and with all the sprucing up that's going on the ayuntamientos may well be getting in debt again creating problems for which ever party gets voted in. Great way to start the new term of office.
Hopefully this isn't what's happening, but it wouldn't surprise me at all:fingerscrossed:


----------



## el romeral (May 8, 2012)

baldilocks said:


> It's no different in UK with all these petty little non-giveaways by the incumbent government. Unfortunately, there are often sufficient voters who are gullible enough to make a swing in the vote, but is it enough???


Come on now, we are not talking about the UK here or having yet another go at the Conservative government. This is local councils (in Spain) doing things in there own areas to raise their popularity! I think it is hilarious and great at the same time. I don't vote so any improvements are all right by me, and if unemployed folk get some work out of it, then so much the better. Some years ago, just before the elections, our 700m dirt track access road received a fabulous layer of lovely black, vote winning tarmac. Am quite sure the swingometer in our area of campo was swinging wildly that day! :rofl:


----------



## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Here I am again, but I'm not so sure it is better.
> I suppose just from the fact that they may get more money than being on benefit or having nothing, but it's probably a temporary contract and with all the sprucing up that's going on the ayuntamientos may well be getting in debt again creating problems for which ever party gets voted in. Great way to start the new term of office.
> Hopefully this isn't what's happening, but it wouldn't surprise me at all:fingerscrossed:


I'm well aware that the extra people working for the Ayuntamiento are on temporary contracts, in fact I said so in my post. The Ayuntamiento have been quite transparent about that, they publicised the fact that they were taking on xxx people for x months, how much they would be paid per month and what hours they would be working. There is a recruitment process which is advertised publicly to give people the chance to apply.

They themselves seem pretty glad to have even a few months of paid work, apart from the extra money it gives people something to do instead of hanging about aimlessly all day. They don't do a full day, they finish at 2.00 pm.

Oh, and some of these projects are actually helping private businesses too. The two bar/restaurants which have been relocated along with the municipal market are far busier, and open for longer hours, than they were in their previous location. They may be employing more staff too, along with our teenage friend who now has a job working on the market. It may not be a high flying career but knowing him he will be delighted to be able to help his divorced mother and 4 younger siblings.


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Here I am again, but I'm not so sure it is better.
> I suppose just from the fact that they may get more money than being on benefit or having nothing, but it's probably a temporary contract and with all the sprucing up that's going on the ayuntamientos may well be getting in debt again creating problems for which ever party gets voted in. Great way to start the new term of office.
> Hopefully this isn't what's happening, but it wouldn't surprise me at all:fingerscrossed:


But those kinds of public sector jobs are always funded by public money. Better if contracts are given to PYMEs wherever possible.
That's why I am wary of Parties who promise job creation with public money.


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Lynn R said:


> I'm well aware that the extra people working for the Ayuntamiento are on temporary contracts, in fact I said so in my post. The Ayuntamiento have been quite transparent about that, they publicised the fact that they were taking on xxx people for x months, how much they would be paid per month and what hours they would be working. There is a recruitment process which is advertised publicly to give people the chance to apply.
> 
> They themselves seem pretty glad to have even a few months of paid work, apart from the extra money it gives people something to do instead of hanging about aimlessly all day. They don't do a full day, they finish at 2.00 pm.
> 
> Oh, and some of these projects are actually helping private businesses too. The two bar/restaurants which have been relocated along with the municipal market are far busier, and open for longer hours, than they were in their previous location. They may be employing more staff too, along with our teenage friend who now has a job working on the market. It may not be a high flying career but knowing him he will be delighted to be able to help his divorced mother and 4 younger siblings.


I wasn't implying that you weren't aware of them being temporary contracts.
I also understand that people are happy to get what they can out of whatever job they get offered.
However, I think, and you might even agree, that it's a very short sighted way to operate. It also takes advantage of the families that have a divorced mother and 4 younger siblings and the people like one of my neighbours who has been unemployed for 4 years, who tried to set up his own business and failed. The people who are in a weak position now. I'm sure we all know people who are having a hard time of it, don't we? Of course I'm glad that they have work for a while, but personally I think it's not going to solve anything, it's going to use money that will now not be spent on something else and it may create debt for town halls and I remember what happened when there was debt before.
As I said in my previous post, let's hope it doesn't come to this


----------



## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Lest it be thought that the only increase in work in my area has been via Ayuntamiento temporary contracts, there is also a very noticeable amount of building work going on. I don't mean yet more blocks of apartments to add to all those already on the market, but houses and old buildings which are undergoing total reforms. Personally I think this is a sign that the housing market is starting to pick up, although not prices. 4 houses within 200 metres of mine are being done up, all of them having been bought recently, and in 3 out of 4 the work is being done by Spanish tradesmen.

3 new kitchen showrooms have opened in town within the last 12 months. They were some of the first businesses to go when the recession hit, as people weren't fitting out new houses or splashing out on renewing existing kitchens. So the fact that they are reappearing now is interesting.


----------



## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Sorry, post duplicated. It's a job creation scheme.


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Just read in Guardian Business that Spain's services sector has shown sharpest rise since 2000 with orders back to pre- crisis level.
Will be interesting to discover what affect the brighter economic outlook with new jobs of all kinds being created will have on the likes of C s and Podemos.


----------



## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

mrypg9 said:


> Just read in Guardian Business that Spain's services sector has shown sharpest rise since 2000 with orders back to pre- crisis level.
> Will be interesting to discover what affect the brighter economic outlook with new jobs of all kinds being created will have on the likes of C s and Podemos.


Yes I saw a similar headline in the Spanish press today. Mercadona, El Corte Inglés and other main retailers all reporting increases in spending.

It was pointed out in a Guardian article on Podemos a while back that with the Spanish economy improving they might only have "one bullet in the gun". That is, they've got to establish themselves in this GE or it may be too late.


----------



## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Here I am again, but I'm not so sure it is better.
> I suppose just from the fact that they may get more money than being on benefit or having nothing, but it's probably a temporary contract and with all the sprucing up that's going on the ayuntamientos may well be getting in debt again creating problems for which ever party gets voted in. Great way to start the new term of office.
> Hopefully this isn't what's happening, but it wouldn't surprise me at all:fingerscrossed:


That's definitely what's happening here. The PP know they haven't got a snowball's chance in hell of being re-elected (PSOE polled 61% in last month's vote) so they are going to screw things up as much as possible for the incoming team.


----------

