Government extends safety-net payment for unemployed

The Cabinet on Friday approved an extension for another six months of a subsistence payment made to those who are out of work and no longer entitled to unemployment benefits.

The measure was announced just a day after the National Statistics Institute (INE) said the country's jobless rate hit a record 26 percent last year, with just under six million people out of work.

The so-called Plan Prepara includes a basic safety net payment of 400 euros a month, rising to 450 euros in the case of those with dependents.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Thursday that the subsistence payment would be renewed automatically every six months until the unemployment rate falls below 20 percent.

Labor Minister Fátima Báñez on Friday took some cheer from the disastrous fourth-quarter jobless figures from the fact that unemployment among young workers fell by 40,000 from the previous three months. However, she failed to mention the phenomenon of increasing numbers of young people leaving Spain to find work elsewhere because of the dire state of the domestic labor market.

On an annual basis, the number of people under 25 unable to find work increased by 46,000 while the jobless rate for young workers rose further to 55 percent of the total.