Mark Zuckerberg, Talavera de la Reina’s last big opportunity smashed by unemployment

It’s weekday noon and two people in their thirties lean against one of the walls of what was once the only Zara on Talavera de la Reina (population 83,437), on Calle San Francisco, the city’s most commercial street. Shopping centreemploying about 30 people, It was closed shortly after the Covid epidemic began. Now its wooden doors and windows are used to put up advertisements for “summer courses” or real estate agents.

Both prefer not to give their names. They say they know later. The employment situation is paradoxical to the phenomenon experienced by the municipality, once the capital of ceramics and the jewel in the crown of Toledo with great growth potential –An hour and a half drive from Madrid on the A-5-, but which has not stopped losing population since 2010: about 5,400 inhabitants.

The black hole of depopulation is mainly due to unemployment that has gripped the municipality for some time, as in many large cities in the non-capital provinces of Castile: Talavera was the fourth most unemployed city in Spain, ‘Urban Indicators 2021’ by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). According to the study, with 26.1% of the unemployed population, Although the latest INE data for 2022 lowers the figure to 24.3%. Since one out of every four people is unemployed, it is still in the top 20 in terms of unemployment.

“The business is shit; I work in hospitality but it’s black becauseWhat will happen to me if something is taken from the 700 Euros I have earned? At most, they pay you five euros an hour”, one of the thirty-odd reasoned. “All the concerts here are in very bad conditions,” adds another, who works as a security guard in the Toledo capital. After his workplace in Talavera was closed due to the Covid crisis.

“Let’s see if the future is Facebook; They say it will bring a lot of work”, they both agree. When they talk about “Facebook,” they’re referring to Mark Zuckerberg, whose parent company Meta of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram plans to relocate to Talavera. opening of a mega data center in Polígono Torrehierro, 12 kilometers west of the city.

As reported by Emiliano García-Page, president of Castilla La Mancha, the investment in the construction phase will be one billion euros, 713 of them will have a direct impact on activities in the region. The numbers are stunning. A total of 1,000 jobs are expected to be created, with an average of 840 during the construction phase and 250 direct jobs for “highly qualified” staff when the complex is built, marking a milestone for the city.

“This great company will revolutionize completely Talavera and its region“The space will be known as such after Page announced this summer that his government had just approved the Regional Statement of Interest for the ‘Metadata Center Campus’ Project, which will occupy approximately 300,000 square feet. This statement was a condition. indispensable to facilitate the arrival of the multinational.

“Represents the largest investment ever made in the city” Talavera City Council resources, managed by the PSOE, assure that more than 2,000 employment-related new jobs have been created since the inception of the legislature. It was heavily promoted by the Regional Center for Digital Innovation (CRID). It is a place that was born with the mission of being a national benchmark. in the field of information and communication technologies. Companies like Oracle, IBM, Telefónica, Palo Alto, HPE or Red Hat have already set up offices in the city.

All this sounds very distant, almost Chinese to Miriam, who is about 50 years old working at a psychotechnical certification company. “What I do know is that young people have to go abroad, especially Madrid, to work. And the AVE that was promised to us long ago is still not coming,” he assures. Already retired, Gregorio applauds, “Here’s the one who can escape,” sipping his coffee at a hearty downtown bar for breakfast with coffee and tortilla pincho. 2.40 euros. He also came and went to Madrid every day to work in his youth. “Here in Toledo, Toledo takes away everything good,” he protests.

A walk down Calle San Francisco, the epicenter of economic life, reveals how the town is exhausted, always dreaming of an AVE that never comes, and an AVE that would make it the perfect dorm town. “Going to Madrid to go to work, a lot of people go, it’s best to go by bus; the train takes a long time. At least four buses go to Madrid every day”explains José María López, an optician in the city centre.

“People here think a lot about AVE, but what is needed is an Alvia. In the end, the young, the professionals, they leave because there is no business here. There is no industry,” he says in a much-repeated comment among traders. “For Rent” or “For Sale” signs populate shop windows here and there. The owner of a huge space ‘rented’ in a privileged place on the commercial street answers the phone, “I can’t rent it because the epilation center there closed a year ago. It’s not possible.” “If he’s giving the whole building to the pedestrian street,” he exclaims angrily. There are even empty buildings in the center. “But what employment will this bring?”, a clothing store employee is curious about the Meta project. “Here you have to settle for a low-paying 20-hour contract. We will die of hatred.”

Jorge Pérez owns a shoe store called Maynar, and he sees everything in black. “The shops were abandoned by the hand of God, and on top of that, the television scaring us with the barracks waiting for us, Think about it…” explains the businessman, who declares in the window that the price of each shoe is deducted according to inflation: “This is how you should help yourself”.

The situation in the municipality is also reflected in the housing prices. According to the report of Tecnitasa (Técnicos en Tasación SA), a valuation company independent of banks and financial institutions with significant credibility in the industry, Talavera has the cheapest homes in Spain: €370/m2, cheaper than rivals Elche (€400/m2) and Jerez de la Frontera (€425/m²).

“Talavera and neighboring towns are severely affected by unemployment, and there are quite a few empty houses”, José María Juárez from the local Tecnocasa office explains. “This is Spain’s cheapest city,” he confirms. The city has zones according to the real estate exchange, Where you can buy two bedroom apartments for 38,000 euros. And three out of 44,000.

“There are a lot of flats that banks buy and they are sold very cheaply. Many of them are old and have no elevators,” says Juárez, who plunged into the real estate bubble to find the root of the problem, “when it was built with a helmet,” because “there was talk of the future of AVE.” and There were “many 100% mortgages that couldn’t be paid later”. And from these dusts come these slimes.

In Idealista they find the p.isos for 27,000 Euros in El Pilar-La Estación region, mostly obsolete houses built with social protection. “I bought my flat of 70 square meters, 32 years ago and it cost me 1.4 million pesetas. Living in two-story brick buildings built “by the union” in the late 1950s, Alfonsa will now be worth 45,000 euros,” he says. The apartment is fine, although it has small windows. We wanted to fix and beautify the façade.”

In the midst of all this negativity, Raquel’s speech is surprising because she has a famous bakery – El Horno de Leña El Encinar – on the edge of this area. exit national housing. “I have never had a job, I became a manager and I’m here now so I can work in the morning. “People are very demanding,” reassures the woman, who insists, “Talavera has it all.”

The Meta thing on the Torrehierro industrial site also sounds remote, you’ve trusted me for a long time. “Look, if Meta had come, they would have gone there, at the end of the range; already urbanized with the streets, but they haven’t started doing anything yet,” says a worker pointing to the exit of the industrial center. where there are many covered ships. “We opened six years ago and we can’t complain, but it’s true that many warehouses are closed,” says Tamara, 33, who runs the only bar-restaurant on the site, which will be revived by the Zuckerberg project. the (for now) mirage of an oasis in the middle of the desert.

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