Since 2010, when the first major labor market reform came into force, Spain has been implementing successive reforms aiming to make the labor market more flexible. Introducing internal flexibility levers allowing businesses to quickly adapt to economic changes and improve competitiveness was a central stake in the latest reform (2012). The Ministry of Labor says that 27 percent of businesses with 250 employees or more have used one of the new measures provided for in the law, and more than 90,000 employees saw their working conditions change between January and May 2013. To this day, negotiations are still the preferred method in large businesses to introduce flexible measures. Working time and pay are the most common levers. (Ref. 130490)
One year after the law was permanently introduced, it is still hard to see the practical consequences. Experts point out that there have been a lot of – sometimes conflicting – legal changes since 2010. Because of the normative instability, the social partners have often waited to see how the legislative framework on the labor market was going to stabilize, notably in terms of recruitment. But most businesses have already used internal flexibility, negotiated in 50 percent of cases and unilaterally imposed in 1 in 4 companies.
More and more uneven working hours. Under the new law, employers can unilaterally amend irregular working hours depending on the company’s needs, up to 10 percent of annual working time.
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