Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2011 about Spain’s economic crisis; the figure of more than 5 million unemployed, the hotelier’s comments on the previous season and the hopes of recovery refer to 2010-2011.
With the crisis and high unemployment, working this summer is no longer just for young people and students, who will have to compete with more than 5 million unemployed people fighting for a job this summer.
Temporary employment agencies, hotels and restaurants confirm that they have never had so many people offering to work, and they say the typical candidate is no longer someone aged between 18 and 30. Now their desks are piled high with CVs from people of all ages, with a considerable rise in workers between 35 and 49. They receive hundreds of applications from parents who don’t mind spending the summer months hundreds of kilometres away from their families in an attempt to earn some extra money that will keep the household afloat for a few months after the summer ends.
The dilemma hotel owners now face, as a businessman from Palma de Mallorca who owns one hotel and five restaurants explained to us, is that for the past five years they have kept a staff that is temporary but practically permanent. Even though he understands the needs of these fathers and mothers going through a difficult time because of the crisis, it would be hard to take on new people and not count on the young workers who have been with them for some time and know the company’s policies perfectly.
This businessman also told us that last year’s tourists spent much less than they used to.
We had to lower food prices and even push the set menu, because we saw tourists who were much more careful with their money, who looked for deals and scrutinised prices. This year, with the recovery in some European countries, we expect sales to pick up again, although we’ve had to take a hard look at our workers’ wages so as not to lose money if expectations aren’t met.
I’ve been in this business for more than 20 years and I’ve never received so many CVs from people begging me to give them a job. They’re not asking to be waiters or cooks; they don’t mind what kind of work it is, but they need to work and would be willing to do it for less money than we used to pay the young people we hired in previous years. That shows the desperation thousands of people are living through because of the crisis we’re going through.
What is clear is that even something that a few years ago was for just a few, working in the summer, has become for many the only chance to rescue their finances, although the competition has grown considerably.
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