The Secretary of State for Employment and Social Economy is a senior minister of the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy responsible for carrying out the government policy on collective and individual

labour relations Labor relations is a field of study that can have different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. In an international context, it is a subfield of labor history that studies the human relations with regard to work in its broadest ...

working conditions {{Short description, 1=Overview of and topical guide to working time and conditions This is a list of topics on working time and conditions. Legislation * See :Employment law Working time * See :Working time * Flextime Working conditions * Bios ...

unemployment benefits Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...

, promotion of

employment Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any o ...

, job training,

social economy The social economy is formed by a rich diversity of enterprises and organisations, such as cooperatives, mutuals, associations, foundations, social enterprises and paritarian institutions, sharing common values and features: * Primacy of the ...

, and promotion of

self-employment Self-employment is the state of working for oneself rather than an employer. Tax authorities will generally view a person as self-employed if the person chooses to be recognised as such or if the person is generating income for which a tax return n ...

. It is also responsible for managing the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

funds of the

European Social Fund The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIFs), which are dedicated to improving social cohesion and economic well-being across the regions of the Union. The funds are redistributive financ ...

. The Secretariat of State for Employment is structured through five departments, two directorates-general focused on all kind of labour issues, two deputy directorates-general for the managing of the European Social Fund and a deputy directorate-general for statistics and studies. As of January 2020, the Secretary of State managed a budget of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

24.5 billion. The current Secretary of State is Joaquín Pérez Rey, a University of Castilla–La Mancha

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...

and head of the University's Labour and Social Security Law Department.

History

The Secretariat of State was created in 1981 with the name of Secretariat of State for Employment and Labour Relations. This Secretariat of State provisionally assumed all the departments and powers of the defunct Ministry of Labour and specifically the functions of the Undersecretariat of Labour, being integrated into the new Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Security. That same year, Health and Work were separated by creating the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and degrading the Secretariats of State to Undersecretariats, assuming the powers of this Secretariat of State, which was suppressed. From 1985 to 2010, this department was maintained as an undersecretariat but with the denomination of "General Secretariat". It was in 2010, during the premiership of

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (; born 4 August 1960) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was the Prime Minister of Spain being elected for two terms, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. ...

, that the department was promoted again to Secretariat of State. The socialist government designed a structure for the secretariat that nowadays still exists, with the Directorate-General for Labour and the Directorate General for the Social Economy, Self-Employment and Corporate Social Responsibility. The powers over the administration of the European Social Fund have varied constantly. In 2020 it was renamed as Secretariat of State for Employment and Social Economy.

Organization chart

The Secretariat of State consists in four departments of different rank and a Cabinet: * The Directorate-General for Labour. *: It is responsible for the labour relations and employment policies. * The Directorate General for Self-Employment, the Social Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility. *: It is responsible for the government policies on social economy, self-employment and CSR. * The Administrative Unit of the European Social Fund. *: It is the national authority responsible for the European Social Fund, the Youth Employment Initiative, the

European Globalisation Adjustment Fund The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF) was set up by the European Union in late 2006 to support to workers (not companies or institutions) who have been made redundant as a result of trade liberalisation, so that ...

and the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived. * The Deputy Directorate-General for Programming and Evaluation of the European Social Fund. *: It is responsible for the design of the programs to which the European funds of the European Social Fund will be applied, its control and evaluation. * The Deputy Directorate-General for Statistics and Socio-Labour Analysis. *: It is responsible for the statistic studies of the Ministry and for making analysis and reports about labour matters. The Secretariat of State has a Cabinet for the personal assistance and support to the Secretary of State.

Agencies and other bodies

From Secretariat of State depends the following agencies and bodies: * The

Labour and Social Security Inspectorate The Labour and Social Security Inspectorate (ITSS) is a Spanish autonomous agency in charge of the control of the compliance with labour and social security legislation. It also offers technical advice and, where appropriate, conciliation, mediat ...

. * The State Public Employment Service. * The Salary Guarantee Fund. * The

National Institute for Safety and Health at Work The National Institute for Safety and Health at Work (, INSST) is an autonomous agency of the Government of Spain. The INSST is considered a technical-scientific agency entrusted with the task of analyze and research on safety and health condit ...

. * The General Council of the National Employment System. * The State Council for Corporate Social Responsibility. * The General Council for Vocational Training. * The National Commission for Safety and Health at Work. * The Council for the Promotion of the Social Economy. * The Self-Employment Council.

List of Secretaries of State

References

{{Reflist Secretaries of State of Spain