The ‘boom’ of this contract, which remains in much of Spain but with a long tradition in the region, will change the statistics by not counting as registered unemployed
Controversy between the government and the opposition over the discontinuous permanent contract. The second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, accused the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, of ignoring the characteristics of this working modality, which is not new but has been significantly modified after the labor reform, so that it can accommodate the workers who previously had a temporary work and service contract that has now expired.
As the Minister confirms, neither the name has been changed, nor has the fact that this type of worker is not counted as registered unemployed has changed. They didn’t before. It is true, however, that this ‘boom’ of non-continuous landlines will alter the unemployment statistics that have existed until now and will no longer be comparable to previous years. Why? Because if this type of contract remained until now – barely 20,000 were signed in May of a year ago – its presence has multiplied by 13 and last month almost 265,000 were signed, half a million if those of April are added, when it went into full counter-reformation.
And it is a fact that at some point they will stop working, but in this case they do not count as registered unemployed, although they are entitled to unemployment benefits if they have contributed for the necessary period. In this case, they appear as unemployed job seekers because they are not fully available to work, similar to what happens to those affected by an ERTE, who did not register on unemployment lists during the pandemic.
“We are going to see a break in the unemployment series and we will not be able to compare the data from before and after the reform,” said Valentín Bote, director of Randstad Research, who indicates that it is not “nothing irregular, but the way of measuring is different.” This is due to the fact that the vast majority of these half-million contracts replace temporary contracts, which would be considered unemployed if they became inactive.
Another fact that shows the strong growth of the discontinuous fixed figure after the application of the labor reform is derived from affiliation: last April there were more than 640,000 donors with such a contract, compared to 418,000 in 2019 and 346,000 in 2020.
However, these workers, even if they spend periods of inactivity, will have a stable employment relationship with a company and, in the event that they are laid off, a fact that is expected to increase as they replace temporary workers, they will receive higher compensation: Worked 20 or 33 days per year (depending on fair or unfair dismissal, with a maximum of 12 and 24 monthly payments respectively) versus 12 days for storms. In addition, the new rule provides that they will be considered a priority group for access to training for work during their periods of inactivity.
In the region of Murcia, this type of contract is regularly used in activities with a clear seasonal character, such as canning or fruit and vegetable companies, and therefore it is an old acquaintance among the Murcian businessmen.
For this reason, the contract model chosen by most companies in the Region, especially in dominant sectors such as agri-food and hospitality, has resulted in adapting their templates to the demands of the new labor reform. work stability. In fact, discontinuous permanent contracts represent half of the total number of permanent contracts formalized in the Region in April, breaking their record and even surpassing temporary contracts for the first time.
By JULIAN MOLLEJO
The controversy over whether the calculation of registered unemployment is adequate, due to the sharp increase in discontinuous permanent contracts after the entry into force of the labor reform, has also reached the region of Murcia. The Secretary of Employment in the Regional Directorate of CC OO, Víctor Romera, has no doubts that the discontinuous permanent service should no longer be considered unemployed during the seasons when the activity is stopped. “It’s always been like this and I don’t see why it should change,” he says.
The success of this contract is more than justified for Romera, as it has replaced “another contract in the field of legal fraud, such as the follow-up of work and service contracts.”
The Minister of Trade and Employment, Valle Miguélez, casts her doubts not so much on the calculation of registered unemployment, but on the effectiveness of the discontinuous permanent contract in combating temporary work.
«In January, before the implementation of the labor reform, we already noticed signs of an increase in permanent contracts, which was later confirmed. But what we doubt is whether this contract is the solution to the problem of temporariness that we have had in the Region for years,” the lawyer told LA VERDAD.
If the person with a non-working permanent contract is not working, should it be assumed that he is still employed or unemployed, asks Miguélez, who thinks it is still early to draw conclusions. The proliferation of this type of contract is greater in the region than in the rest of Spain, hence the importance of defining and clarifying its assignments. In the month of May, lawyers recalled, of the more than 39,000 contracts signed for an indefinite period, more than half (23,938) were for an indefinite period.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
