Without the war in Ukraine, Spain and other countries would have gone like a fluke in their post-pandemic crisis recovery. With growing discomfort from rising energy prices affecting food and construction, Spain is falling from the inevitable three million unemployed numbers for the first time since 2008 and has registered more than twenty million workers contributing to Social Security. In a country with a population of close to 50 million, it is officially “celebrated” that “only three million are unemployed”.
The paradox of a mighty country with strange things: 3 million people are unemployed however, hundreds of entrepreneurs cannot find workers to work in restaurants, agriculture or maintenance jobs. How serious will this contradiction be that, to resolve it, Minister José Luis Escrivá is working on facilitating work permits (in terms of business) for thousands of people in Spain who are in a disorderly situation, so that no one, not even any restaurant, is left unattended. an olive or a peach on the trees to collect. Entrepreneurs agree; against unions.
The explanation for this paradox about too many unemployed and employers looking for workers is not easy to explain. Some tips: There are tasks that the Spaniards do not want to doreading in the sun and for long hours, cleaning the house, caring for the elderly, picking fruit, and other distracting work. As in the Dominican Republic, which prefers the cane to be collected by its Haitian neighbors. In other cases, the fixation of the population in the region they live in has an effect due to the nature of home ownership: there is a reluctance to move between cities. There is also some resistance to returning to rural areas. There is one more thing: the slogan “not worth it to me” prevails, as many of the salaries offered are temporary and at the same time low. The manager of a spa chain explains it this way: “I think it’s good that the government helps those who have less; But the truth is, between the minimum living income plus their spouse’s income, a little something their parents left them, and the occasional handiwork, there are many people who choose not to work. That’s enough for them.
Against this background, Spanish politics is running in anticipation of a broad demobilization of the left, appreciating the recovery of the right that will be expressed in Andalusia on 19 June. Demobilization and split: In Andalusia, the Socialist Party appears with the former mayor of Seville, Juan Espadas, in the whisper “we are used to beating negative polls”. We’ll see. But there is a split to the left of the PSOE where there are two different candidates and more contention than mobilization.
In June, the NATO General Assembly will be held in Madrid. Leaders of the left, including some Podemos ministers, have previously criticized this action. It is within their rights. But in these times of war, when traditionally neutral countries – Sweden or Finland – want to join the organization, it must be unprofitable to oppose NATO. On top of that, NATO wants to protect its energy supply nodes. There is fear of Putin and there is little room for disagreement.