Spain’s bailout plan
Spain’s economic rescue package is part bank bailout, part New Deal. Socialist Prime Minister Zapatero has announced some $15 billion dollars for local governments to create public works projects. Construction has been one of the hardest hit sectors in this crisis, and signs of the building bust are everywhere, and there’s been a high human cost. This year, hundreds of thousands of construction workers have been let go. In this southern city, officials are closing to declaring a state of emergency. In all, Spain has nearly 3 million unemployed, a rate of 13% and economists are worried it could rise to 20%. There is also a law meant to address the problem of freelancers; the law would offer unemployment benefits to freelancers during downtime. It’s not a lot, but the knock on effect could be huge. The number of officially registered freelancers is growing in Spain, and they could make up 30% of the construction workers soon.
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