The Second Vice President of the Government and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, indicated this Friday that the projections handled by her department point to the fact that the level of 22 million employed people will extend throughout this entire year.
During his/her intervention at the European Pulse Forum 2026, organized by Politico and beBartlet at the CosmoCaixa in Barcelona, he/she has highlighted that current employment levels are recorded "in a real way, not seasonally adjusted".
It has defended that the positive conjuncture of the labor market is due, in large part, to the latest labor reform, designed to cut temporality and offer alternatives to dismissals in moments of crisis.
In this regard, it has recalled that, before the reform, only 10% of contracts were permanent, while now they exceed 40%, and has highlighted that, since the entry into force of said regulation, 2.5 million jobs have been generated.
Regarding the containment of layoffs, he/she has regretted that in the past any crisis resulted in staff cuts, but that since the outbreak of Covid there are "public resources to support companies and workers."
He/She added that to this change is added the salary increase policy, and has stressed that these three elements "are not discussed anywhere" and have transformed the functioning of the labor market in Spain.
The role of funds in the housing market
Díaz has charged against the investment funds that operate in the residential sector, considering that "they have a logic of plunder, they are investment funds that do not pay taxes."
He has put the focus on REITs, which enjoy a specific regime in Corporate Tax with a rate of 0%, which, he said, places them outside "the rest of Spanish and international companies, which pay taxes. They don't, or they pay it almost, allow me, well, I don't know, without importance."
In his opinion, the Executive must intervene on these funds present in the real estate business, since they favor a "rentier economy that allows business to be done, speculation to occur with a fundamental actor called housing".
The vice president has positively assessed that housing has become a central issue of public debate, although she has regretted that this debate arrives "late", and has pointed out that discontent over the difficulties of access to housing is one of the factors that fuel populisms in Europe.