Spain needs years to return to pre-crisis employment level: minister

Spain would need three or four years to lift employment to pre-crisis level, Minister of Work and Immigration Celestino Corbacho said Monday.

The August figures saw unemployment grow by around 60,000 people after four months of continual reduction in the number of people out of work.

Unemployment currently stands at just under 4 million in Spain, around 20 percent of the working population.

Corbacho believes it will take time to reduce that figure.

"We are going to need three or four years in order to return to the levels we had before the crisis. That is, if things go as they are expected to and there are no further complications," he told radio station Cadena Ser.

The minister insisted that despite August's setback, he had witnessed a change in the trend of unemployment statistics.

He was positive about last month's unemployment figures, reminding listeners that August is traditionally a bad month for the job market in Spain, as many short-term jobs in the tourist industry come to an end.

"They are not bad figures ... seasonal variations play a big role in our economy. That means there are a lot of temporary contracts, above all in summer. It will be difficult for us to change that pattern," he said.

Corbacho pointed out that many companies were continuing to offer temporary contracts to workers when the market remains unstable. He was optimistic that the trend would change.

"We shall see how in a few months we see a change from temporary to full-time contracts. I am convinced that will happen, but it will need time," he said.

Source: Xinhua