Spain and the US intensify their bilateral cooperation on employment

USPA NEWS - The Minister of Employment and Social Security, Fátima Báñez, met Thursday in Washington with Secretary of Labor of the United States, Thomas Perez, with whom he analyzed the situation of the Spanish labor market and agreed to advance bilateral cooperation between the two countries in this field

The meeting is a continuation of that celebrated Bañez and Secretary Perez in Melbourne last September, in the framework of the meeting of employment ministers of the G20. The minister recalled that after the destruction of 3.3 million jobs in the previous legislature in Spain, the government headed by Mariano Rajoy approved labor reform in 2012, an ambitious and balanced standard that has helped to slow the decline in employment in the first place, and now that the economy has returned to growth, is allowing jobs to be created at a rate of 3.57% yoy.

"We have recovered a million jobs since the minimum level in two years, but much remains to be done," Báñez said, who explained why, in addition to the labor reform, the Government has launched a new "silent" said market reform work, which is none other than the reform of active employment policies. Thus, the system has been reformed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the system, more intermediation between supply and demand for workers, more and better training for workers, more coordination between the various public employment services and continuous assessment results.

In this sense, Báñez stressed that the US Congress approved in July 2014 Workforce Investment Opportunities Act, regulation focused on improving labor intermediation, job training and skills certification. He also stressed the impetus Labor Department Thomas Perez directed the development of activation policies, especially through systems of public-private collaboration. For this reason, Fatima Báñez proposed intensifying bilateral cooperation between both countries in the field of active employment policies, dual training and youth employment, as well as attention to the long-term unemployed, strengthening the exchange of information and best practices.

Also in the field to facilitate the movement of highly skilled workers between the two countries, a subject in which Spain has adopted a very advanced legislation in this area that has benefited companies, entrepreneurs and American scientists. Following this meeting, a round of contacts between government culminating in the signing of a memorandum at the next meeting of G20 ministers in Turkey starts.