Govt has succeeded in putting the brakes on job losses but unemployment coninues to rise

The Murcian economy, latest jobless totals

2010-03-02

Leive Pajin, speaking of behalf of the governing PSOE party says that she believes that the government has "succeeded in putting the brakes on the destruction of jobs."

Perhaps she could do with a good mechanical overhaul and a new set of brake pads, a 2.03% increase on the previous months jobless total , the seventh consecutive month of increases in the numbers of the unemployed  and  4.130.625 officially out of work isn't exactly the sort of figures many of us would be proud to disclose.

And those are the official figures, not taking into account all those who fall outside of the system and are swallowed up in the submerged economy which represents an estimated 23% of the nations GDP.

 

It cost the government 2,923, 000,000 euros in January to keep these people in a state of unemployment, nearly 18% more than it was costing them last year, yet they are under intense pressure to reduce their own horrifying deficit and generate employment.

A packet of incentives have been announced to stimulate the economy, yet examination of these seems to focus on "bribing" the public to buy things, by putting in place subsidies for improvements, stimuli to buy furniture and change window units and doors, continuing with the subsidies for the purchase of new cars, all measures which prop up ailing businesses, and try to halt the numbers declaring insolvency and joining the jobless queues,  but do little to generate new businesses, stimulate manufacturing and create long-term economic stability.

It's a bit like trying to paint Spanish walls- they can be rubbed down and painted a gleaming white for the summer, but no matter how thickly the paint is applied, it inevitably falls off again in the autumn; the only way to fix the problem is to knock it down and build some proper foundations .

 

Here in the region of Murcia, we've fared a little worse than the rest of the country, with a 2.48 % increase in the jobless total, representing another 3,130 jobs lost, bringing our own total to 129, 443.

One figure the press are highlighting is the number of foreign origin unemployed.

In Murcia nearly 24,000 unemployed are "foreigners", non EU states representing 20,000 and EU  nationals 3,600 and the analysts are keen to point out that 44.5% more foreigners are receiving benefit than a year ago.

This is hardly surprising as they're inevitably the first to be shed, as the longer term contracts cost businesses far more to terminate and many were on short term contracts.

Whilst the country was desperate for cheap immigrant labour during the construction boom years, the residue is now an unwelcome burden on the Spanish taxpayer and now only one in ten of the regions unemployed is believed to have any real prospect of even finding a proper job.

This morning workers were protesting outside a Mazarron fruit processing company. They all have jobs, but haven't been paid for months, yet if they stop working they have no entitlement to state benefit, as they have voluntarily left their jobs.

But if they continue to work, they don't get paid.

 

So what are they going to live on.

 

We've had a lot of incoming mail recently. In amongst the court reports and the town hall reports and the he said this and she said that reports are the police reports, which have shown a lot of arrests in fruit fields for crop theft, in industrial units for tool theft and it's astonishing that Murcia hasn't been plunged into total darkness the amount of copper cable that keeps disappearing out of municipal lighting systems.

 

Mdm Pajin should get herself a reliable  mechanic fast and invest in a good set of brake pads which will solve her problem long-term.

She's going to have to brake a lot harder if she wants to stop this train taking her down into the hole opening up in the track ahead.

 

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