The countdown to the vote on the decree with housing measures approved by the Spanish government to face the economic impact of the war in the Middle East has triggered a call from social groups and left-wing parties to tenants to demand "now" the extraordinary extension of up to two years of the terms and conditions of the contract in case it ends before December 31, 2027. This is one of the flagship measures of the decree which, pending the result of the vote in Congress, is in force (the temporal limit for it to be voted on is 30 business days from its publication in the "Official State Gazette).

Why should the public administration continue to award contracts as if only price mattered, when it could do so based on criteria that also improve people's lives?

"We are feeding a time bomb". So says economist and president of human resources company ICSA Group, Ernest Poveda, before "the abuse" of temporary contracts that has monopolised the Spanish labour market for years, focusing mainly on less skilled jobs. The data prove him right. According to the State's Public Employment Service (SEPE), during the first seven months of 2021 the average duration of contracts is under two months, specifically 54.1 days. The figure is more alarming - says the economist - if you consider that the economic crisis of covid has not had any impact, since compared with recent years is a little longer. In 2007, in times of supposed economic bonanza, the median duration of contracts was 78.6 days; 2013, in full financial crisis, fell to 53.3 days, and 2019, before the pandemic broke out, it reached historic lows by dropping for the first time below 50 days. "Short-term employment has become chronic and there is an abuse of temporality and this causes instability for many workers, who have one contract after another, something that directly affects the economy and especially consumption, because a person who is in this situation does not consider buying a home or a vehicle," he exemplifies.