Lack of jobs clouds Spain�s recovery

Many of Spain’s five million unemployed dream of finding a steady job in the economic recovery vaunted by the government—but a legion of undeclared workers still scrape by cash-in-hand, reports AFP from Madrid.
“Nowadays the phrase ‘steady job’ means nothing in Spain,” said Paloma Sotillo, 43. She is one of 1.7 million people in Spain who admit to earning at least part of their pay in the “black economy”, without tax or social security contributions.
Spain’s economy returned to growth in 2013 after five years of economic crisis, but its unemployment rate is still the second-highest in the eurozone after Greece.
The rate dipped to 22.37 per cent in the second quarter of this year, according to official data published this week.
A study by Catalan business school Esade indicated however that one in 10 employees and one in five unemployed people in Spain did work for earnings that they did not declare to the taxman.
Sotillo said she had been unemployed for a year when she found a job in a Madrid toyshop in December 2013. She worked there for a year before stopping in order to look after her sick mother.
“I had a contract to work 30 hours a week, but I worked 35 and they paid me the difference cash-in-hand,” she said—a salary of 700 euros plus an undeclared supplement of 120 euros. The tax collectors’ union Gestha says the vast black economy has for decades undermined Spain, the eurozone’s fourth-biggest economy.

Lack of jobs clouds Spain�s recovery

Many of Spains five million unemployed dream of finding a steady job in the economic recovery vaunted by the governmentbut a legion of undeclared workers still scrape by cash-in-hand, reports AFP from Madrid. Nowadays the phrase steady job means nothing in Spain, said Paloma Sotillo, 43. She is one of 1.7 million people in Spain who admit to earning at least part of their pay in the black economy, without tax or social security contributions. Spains economy returned to growth in 2013 after five years of economic crisis, but its unemployment rate is still the second-highest in the eurozone after Greece. The rate dipped to 22.37 per cent in the second quarter of this year, according to official data published this week. A study by Catalan business school Esade indicated however that one in 10 employees and one in five unemployed people in Spain did work for earnings that they did not declare to the taxman. Sotillo said she had been unemployed for a year when she found a job in a Madrid toyshop in December 2013. She worked there for a year before stopping in order to look after her sick mother. I had a contract to work 30 hours a week, but I worked 35 and they paid me the difference cash-in-hand, she saida salary of 700 euros plus an undeclared supplement of 120 euros. The tax collectors union Gestha says the vast black economy has for decades undermined Spain, the eurozones fourth-biggest economy.