Spain: Quality jobs for a new economy

It is often argued that the cost of social equity is less economic growth, highlighting the supposed trade-off between these two goals. The crisis that erupted in 2008 – which was preceded by rising social inequalities – has shown that this is simply not the case. In fact, if properly designed, equity-enhancing policies can also promote prosperity and reduce risk of future crises. The aim of the Studies on Growth with Equity series is to show how such policy complementarities can be achieved.

Spain has slowly begun to emerge from a deep crisis – one that has highlighted the inefficiency of the previous growth model. The recovery process is marked by a structural transformation that will entail further reallocation of resources, notably firms and jobs. However, a successful transition to a new growth model is possible, but only if employment and economic policies are adequately aligned and counterproductive measures such as wage cuts and poorly-designed austerity measures are avoided.