Editing Economy of Spain (section)

=====Employment recovery=====
The labor market reform started a trend of setting successive positive employment records. By Q2 of 2014, the economy had reversed its negative trend and started creating jobs for the first time since 2008.<ref name=cincodias/> The second quarter reversal had been extraordinary; jobs created set an absolute positive record since such quarterly employment statistics began in 1964.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.europapress.es/economia/laboral-00346/noticia-economia-epa-paro-registra-caida-record-310400-personas-crean-402400-empleos-mayor-cifra-anos-20140724090006.html|title = El paro registra una caída récord de 310.400 personas y se crean 402.400 empleos, la mayor cifra en 9 años|date = 24 July 2014}}</ref> Labor reform did seem to play an important role; one piece of evidence cited was that Spain had started creating jobs at lower rates of GDP growth than before: in previous cycles, employment rose when growth hit 2%, this time the gain came during a year when GDP had expanded by just 1.2%.<ref name="economist.com"/>

Greater than expected GDP growth paved the way for further decline in unemployment. Since 2014, Spain registered steady annual falls in the official jobless figure. During 2016, unemployment experienced the steepest fall on record.<ref name="FTbiggestdrop"/> By the end of 2016, Spain had recovered 1.7m of the more than 3.5m jobs lost over the recession.<ref name="FTbiggestdrop"/> By Q4 2016 Spanish unemployment had fallen to 19%, the lowest rate in seven years.<ref name="unemployment Q4'16">{{cite news| author=Maria Tadeo| url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-26/spain-unemployment-falls-to-seven-year-low-as-rajoy-seeks-budget | work=Bloomberg | title=Spain Unemployment Falls to Seven-Year Low Amid Budget Talks | date=26 January 2017}}</ref> In April 2017 the country recorded its biggest drop in jobless claimants for a single month to date.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/05/04/inenglish/1493884808_621515.html | work=El País | title=Jobs in Spain: Easter hirings bring record monthly drop in unemployment to Spain | date=4 May 2017}}</ref><ref name="May '17 employment">{{cite news| url=http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/06/02/inenglish/1496389957_165086.html | work=El País | title=Working in Spain: Unemployment: Social Security affiliations have best May since 2001 | date=2 June 2017}}</ref> In Q2 of 2017, unemployment fell to 17%, below 4 million for the first time since 2008,<ref>{{cite news| author=María Tadeo| url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-27/spanish-unemployment-falls-to-lowest-since-start-of-2009-chart  | work=Bloomberg | title=Spanish Unemployment Falls to Lowest Since Start of 2009 | date=27 July 2017}}</ref> with the country experiencing its steepest quarterly decline in unemployment on record.<ref>{{cite news| author=Antonio Maqueda| url=https://economia.elpais.com/economia/2017/07/27/actualidad/1501137604_444180.html | work=El País | title=EPA: El paro baja de los cuatro millones por primera vez desde comienzos de 2009 | date=27 July 2017| language=es}}</ref> In 2018, at 14.6% the unemployment rate did not exceed the 15% threshold for the first time since 2008 when the crisis began.<ref>{{cite news| author=Manuel V. Gómez| url=https://elpais.com/economia/2018/10/25/actualidad/1540447599_036822.html | work=El País | title=EPA: La tasa de paro baja del 15% por primera vez desde 2008 | date=25 October 2018| language=es}}</ref>

As of 2017, trade unions, left, and center-left parties continued to criticize and wanted labor reform to be revoked, on grounds that it tilted the balance of power too far towards employers.<ref name="FTbiggestdrop">{{cite news| author=Tobias Buck| url=https://www.ft.com/content/f673c81c-d27d-11e6-b06b-680c49b4b4c0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/f673c81c-d27d-11e6-b06b-680c49b4b4c0 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription  | work=Financial Times | title=Drop in Spanish jobless total is biggest on record | date=4 January 2017}}</ref> Most new contracts were temporary.<ref name="May '17 employment"/> In 2019, [[Pedro Sánchez (politician)|Pedro Sánchez]]'s socialist government increased the minimum wage by 22% in an attempt to boost hiring and encourage spending, and increased it further in the labor reform adopted at the end of 2021. Members of the opposition argued this increase, would negatively affect 1.2 million workers due to employers being unable to cover the raise, resulting in higher unemployment.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-10/spain-takes-an-economic-gamble-on-an-unprecedented-wage-hike|title=Spain Takes an Economic Gamble on an Unprecedented Wage Hike|access-date=9 February 2019|publisher=Bloomberg}}</ref> Contrary to such opinion, the reforms approved by Sanchez's government resulted in a robust shift towards permanent employment contracts, and led to a 15-year low in unemployment rates at 11.60%.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Spain: Keeping good momentum |url=https://www.allianz-trade.com/en_global/economic-research/country-reports/Spain.html |access-date=2024-08-09 |website=Corporate |language=en}}</ref>