In April 2022, the major labor reform by Yolanda Díaz came into effect. The Minister of Labor promised that the new measures would foster a profound transformation of the Spanish labor market and combat one of its endemic problems: high temporality. Four years later, however, can we say that the initiative has achieved its main objective? According to Jordi Garcia, professor of Labor Law and Social Security at the University of Barcelona, no. "Or at least that's what it seems with the little data they provide," he assures. Different reports, such as one published a few weeks ago by the liberal think tank Fundación Civismo, agree with the expert and say that the changes have been, truly, "statistical".

The Ministry of Labor and the UGT and CCOO unions, but not the employers' associations, have agreed this Thursday to raise the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI). 1,221 euros gross in 14 paymentsThis represents a 3.1% increase compared to 2025. It's a rise of 37 euros per month, as announced by the Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey. The Council of Ministers will soon approve the salary increase, which will be retroactive to January 1st of this year. The employers' associations CEOE and Cepyme have distanced themselves from the agreement and rejected the increase, as anticipated in the statement released Thursday morning, in which they labeled the tax deduction in corporate income tax for the companies most affected by the pay increase as "deceptive" and "interventionist." According to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labor and the unions agree that this salary level will remain exempt from personal income tax.

The Catalan government agreed on Monday to activate the teleworking decree to minimize mobility and reinforce all intercity bus lines during the day due to disruptions on the commuter rail network in Catalonia. The measures were agreed upon at a new government monitoring meeting, coinciding with Two new network outages this morning due to IT issues. But many workers, once again, have been unable to get to work or have arrived late. Who pays the price?

1. Last Monday, in a debate on "The Future of Work and the Meaning of Life" at the European School of Humanities, Sara Berbel emphasized the importance of recognizing and dignifying work as a fundamental element of society, and the need to address technological changes from this perspective, changes that are often seen as a threat to a collective threat. If significant breaches have already opened in the logic of work culture in recent times, the instruments of knowledge advancement are now dizzying. And in this sense, AI, the great myth in full swing, generates great anxieties.

You might follow her on social media (@congafas_ on Instagram), where, with humor, illustrations and heartbreaking messages, Laura Camps de Agorreta (Barcelona, ​​1984) She defends the rights of the working class. She also addresses parenting, the physical and mental exhaustion of mothers, the lack of support, and the difficulty of work-life balance. This digital activist and communications consultant has now published an essay. We don't have enough time. (Bruguera 2025), where she reflects on the scourge of our times: the lack of time and the relationship between work and life.

If he worked full-time, Mirko would have to work seven and a half hours, but he's been working five and a half for the last six years. During this time, he's taken a reduced work schedule to balance work and raising his three children with his wife. They also have two children, one each, from previous relationships. So, in total, there are days or weeks when they have five children. They've lived in Barcelona for over twenty-five years, but they don't have extended family; he's German and she's from Venezuela, and therefore they've had to be very organized over the years.

It was because of microeconometrics, which he wanted to study at Pompeu Fabra University, that Antonio Di Paolo (Pescara, 1981) ended up in Barcelona in 2004. In Bologna, he had passively learned Spanish from exchange students who didn't speak Italian, and it was clear to him that the same wouldn't happen to him with Catalan. He did everything possible to learn it quickly: he enrolled in courses taught in Catalan and threw himself into "practice" until he could answer exams in Catalan. Then came the classes he taught as a predoctoral researcher at the Autonomous University and, therefore, total immersion in Catalan.

An additional 554 inspectors and sub-inspectors will be added over the next two years, along with a laboratory to combat labor fraud. These are some of the initiatives included in the Ministry of Labor's strategy for the 2025-2027 period, approved by the Council of Ministers this Tuesday.

The length of a person's working life has a direct impact on the retirement benefits they receive once they stop working and, consequently, on whether they are forced to postpone or delay leaving the workforce for even longer. In fact, to be eligible for retirement, it is necessary to contribute a minimum number of years, in addition to being of legal pensionable age. However, there are a number of factors that make this path difficult, especially among today's young people. One of these is entering the labor market later, as confirmed by a study by the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (Ivie) and the BBVA Foundation.

Having a psychologist who can guide us professionally is now within reach of any company or busy person, thanks to Project yourself, a program subsidized by the Consortium for Continuing Education of Catalonia and the Ministry of Labor (SEPE). Susana Villafaina, coordinator of the Development Projects Department of the Official College of Psychology of Catalonia (COPC), explains this to us.

She put on pearl earrings, fake pearls. And she set foot in the most exclusive neighborhood in Paris for the first time. It was September 2012, and sociologist Alizée Delpierre, who had been researching the relationship between the wealthy and their servants for some time, decided it was essential to see and experience it firsthand. That's why she worked as a nanny in the homes of the super-rich. The result of the investigation is Serving the rich (Editorial Península).

The Spanish government, in need of gestures to disguise the growing blurring of social democracy, has opted for a reduction in the working day, rejected by employers and the right, who always see too many concessions to the working classes. Two and a half hours less per week doesn't cause any major scares. In fact, several sectors are already working below the 40-hour mark: education (34.5), public administration (35.9), and finance and insurance (37.2). Why not the others?

On Monday, April 28, the great blackout. On Tuesday, April 29, the inevitable aftermath of the serious incident. Thursday, May 1, a holiday. On Friday, May 2, many educational and non-educational institutions were on long weekends. The truth is that it's not very common for all this to happen so often. In any case, the circumstances invite us to think about how our perception of work and, consequently, that of leisure are changing. It's likely that if a Catalan in the 17th or 18th centuries had been asked "What are you?", the answer would have been associated with their status (military, ecclesiastical, noble, etc.) or with belonging to a particular guild, which until the end of theAncien Régime It was the main form of civil association between people. It's also reasonable to think that later, in the 19th century, the person being addressed would no longer have referred to the estate or guild, but would have placed themselves among the industrialists/owners, the artisans, or the workers. It's equally likely that, until just over a generation ago, the name of the company one worked for was added to the answer: "I work for Fecsa" (or La Caixa, or whatever). Today, when I speak to a former student and ask them what they do, whether they have a permanent, paid job or not, they often respond with a formula that implies a—let's say— desiderative identity"I want to do a second master's degree in London," "I'm trying to change departments within the company," "I'd like to learn French," etc. There is a conviction that work will no longer be an activity associated with one's personal identity, because one will have several throughout one's life. As Professor Carlos Obeso, with whom I collaborated on the European Values Survey a few years ago, emphasized, work is increasingly a simple remuneration mechanism, not a profound feature of our self, as it once was. The desiderative identity within the workplace points to the full acceptance of a changing world, which does not necessarily mean an unstable or even insecure one. The enormous labor mobility in the United States, for example, is associated, with all the necessary exceptions, with low unemployment rates compared to Europe.

Throughout her professional career, Arianne Rovira (Barcelona, ​​1966) has worked for several multinational companies and has held positions in marketing, sales, and general management departments. She has poured everything she has learned from her experience in the business world into this book. Mediocre bosses (Libros de Cabecera), which provides the keys to identifying a bad head and addressing job dissatisfaction.

When you look at it from a more focused perspective, feeling guilty as a parent isn't as bad as it may seem. It means reflecting on what you do and don't do, and evaluating your actions and inactions. I highly doubt that people who don't feel guilty about parenthood are perfect parents; they simply don't engage in this self-assessment exercise. Out of a sense of self-worth or survival, I don't know.