Albert Recio

The Transformation of the Employment System in Spain: Towards a Mediterranean Neoliberalism?

Since the first democratic elections after the Francoist dictatorship (20 June 1977), important changes have taken place in Spain. These have affected the economic and social structure, culture, labour relations, gender relations and everyday life. The changes have been influenced by both external factors (globalization, European integration) and internal factors (political democratization, territorial restructuring, social demands and cultural changes). This context of deep and rapid transformation in the socioeconomic model must be taken into account in order to understand the puzzle that is the current employment system. The drivers of these changes are diverse, as we will see. Our hypothesis is that there have been significant breaks with the past, but these are not of a radical nature and are instead combined with significant degrees of continuity.

Time, Work and Gender in Spain

This article explores two related topics: the recent effects of women in Spain entering the labour market and the current transformation of time management at home and at work. There are important movements in both fields with correlating consequences. These changes will greatly affect the role of women in our society determining the quality and evolution of not only womens lives, but also of our society in general. This article discusses some basic questions about time management and its impact on peoples lives, the important changes in the culture and work of women in the last two decades and the transformations in the management of work time with specific attention given to its effects on women and domestic care.

Low pay in Spain

An approach used by the European Union (Eurostat 2000) is based on the 1996 family living standards panel. A survey was carried out in all European Union countries with the advantage that each country used a standardised methodology and applied a common way of measuring low pay. Low pay is considered to be monthly earnings that are less than 60% of average earnings in the country concerned. When defined in this way, the low pay phenomenon in Spain does not seem to be particularly worrying, since it has a lower incidence than the European average (Table 1). Looking at it more closely, however, the use of a relative measure of poverty means that the weight that low pay has in each country reflects wage disparities rather than the absolute level of income of the poorest. The figures would change completely if the scale were altered and low pay was set in relation to the average of the whole of the European Union. This would undoubtedly put Spain and Portugal in the group with the greatest incidence of low wages2. Depending on the source chosen (labour cost survey or standardised pay) Spanish wages are 20 to 35% lower than the majority of major European countries.