CCOO calls on the Government for the pending reform of unemployment protection

MADRID, 3 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The CCOO has demanded this Wednesday that the Government advance in the pending reform of unemployment protection, included in Component 23 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), and has asked the Executive to convene "immediate negotiation tables" to be able to move forward

However, the Confederal Secretary for Social Security and Complementary Social Welfare of the CCOO, Carlos Bravo, and the Secretariat's technician, Hortensia García, have admitted that, on this occasion, the Government rules out social dialogue and has only promised to send draft.

"They tell us that it is going to be done, but they have not agreed to meet with the social partners to address it, and we demand that there be social agreement," Bravo said at a press conference this Wednesday.

From the CCOO they have summoned the Government in general, and the Ministry of Finance and Public Function, and the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy, in particular, to bet on a "deep reform" and not just a "dressing to formally comply with a PRTR Commitment".

With the information they have so far, Bravo and García foresee a "very light protection standard", with some partial improvements, but far from being "the reform that the unemployment assistance protection system needs."

Both Bravo and García have been "skeptical" about the possibility that the reform will be addressed in the remainder of the legislature, although, at the same time, they acknowledge that it is a milestone of component 23 and "has to be met before the end of year". Likewise, they are aware that it will have to be approved by Royal Decree-Law.

CCOO has presented this Wednesday the report "Labor Market and Unemployment Protection", prepared by the union, from which Bravo concludes that the unemployment benefit presents symptoms of ageism, "obvious" gender problems and without improvements in the youngest groups .

The union indicates in the report that the number of benefit recipients stood at 1,761,916 in 2022, of which 793,168 were men and 968,748 were women. Therefore, in 2022, 55% of benefit recipients were women and 45% men.

Among both men and women, the largest number of beneficiaries is among people over 50 years of age. The lowest figures correspond to those under 30 years of age. The group of 30 to 49 years among men are 37% of the beneficiaries and 42% among women.

Regarding the coverage rate, at the end of 2022, it had increased by 10% compared to 2021, and stood at 68.7%, far from rates like those of 2009, at 80%, and 2010, at 77%.

CCOO warns that this leaves a good part of the unemployed without coverage. Likewise, the evolution of the coverage rates shows a significant decrease from 2012, with the benefit reform that changed the age to access the subsidies for people over 52 to 55 years of age and reduced the amount of contributory benefits, among other things. Until 2019, with the reform that improves subsidies for people over 52 years of age and other subsequent improvements, rates like those prior to the reform are not reached, as the report points out.

In 2022, the coverage rate reached 76.7% for men, the highest in the entire series, and 63.1% for women.

CCOO also states in this report that contributory benefits protected 44% of unemployed people in 2022, while the rest were protected by assistance benefits.