Human Resource Management In Spain

SPANISH HISTORY WITH RELATION TO HUMAN RESOURCE ISSUES

The story of Spain's economy did not take off until 1975 where they eventually turned into a democracy when General Franco and his regime died. The Spaniards once again looked to their king to take them into the unknown territory of democracy and brought them closer to the European Union.

Through out the 20th century just 1/3 of the population either had a job or was looking for one. In 1965 it touched record levels where unemployment was hovering at about 38.5%. However this number decreased in the 80s to about 33%-34%.

Compared to other European countries in the 1970s Spain had the lowest participation by women, which was at 18% of all women in Spain. This is to be compared to Italy, which was at about 26% and in northern Europe, which was about 30% to 40 %. However with benefits, incentives, government policies, and legislation this value was raised to about 30% to 40% of the population of women working in the labour force.

In the late 1980s Spain's economy was growing. This was mainly due to the rise in the employment, improved equipments, rise in industrial production and mainly government policies. However the figures might be false to a certain extent because it was believed that the underground economy had also contributed to the booming economy (http://www.workmall.com).

SPANISH LABOUR MARKET

The Spanish labour market is affected by tradition and culture, so there are two principal reasons that could represent the labor market in Spain. Firstly, there is a very high rate of unemployment besides the economic growth. Secondly, an individual tends to be unemployed for long time. Looking at the period from 1987 to 1991, there is 57.4%, unemployment in Spain. So in twentieth century, it was around 52.7% probably because the labor market was rigid.

After the government allowed the extensive use of temporary labour contracts, the employment in Spain had grown and they represent more than 90% of new hires. Beside that, throughout the nineties, Spanish labour market included young workers, women and others in lower qualification levels were affected by labour turnover.

(http://docubib.uc3m.es)

Source: ILO: 2003-2004 Key Indicators of the Labor Market (Geneva, 2003) (www.ilo.org/kilm)

According to the above table, total employment, which includes employees, employers, own-account workers and so on in Spain from 1997 to 2002 base on female with the highest level, continue with male and female.