More than 10,000 people found employment in 2020 thanks to Caritas

On the occasion of the May Day, International Workers' DayCaritas has made public its annual Solidarity Economy Report in which it reports on the work of Caritas delegations throughout Spain in relation to employment in the year 2020. The report highlights the difficulties that the Covid pandemic brought to the development of Caritas programs. However, Caritas was able to maintain the pace of response of its employment and social economy programs.

In 2020, a total of 60,055 people participated in these programs, of which 10,153 managed to find a job, which represents more than 17% of the total number of participants. An action that involved an investment of 85,685,576 euros in the 70 Diocesan Caritas throughout Spain and the work of 1,195 people hired and 2,166 volunteers, leading activities in four complementary areas: reception and job orientation, training, labor intermediation and self-employment initiatives.

Among the participants in these programs, more than half are women, accounting for 65.61 PTW2W and 34.41 PTW2W men (20,674). By national origin, 45.8% are Spanish (27,492), 48.5% are of non-EU origin and another 5.7TP2T are from EU countries (3,417).

As the report itself highlights, Caritas' commitment to accompanying vulnerable people in search of employment focuses on four objectives:

- Promote employability through the improvement of personal, transversal and basic labor competencies for job search and job maintenance.

- Promote the implementation of training actions adapted to the characteristics and real needs demanded by the productive fabric.

- To promote learning experiences through internships in a real work environment, through collaboration with companies and organizations.

- Bringing people closer to the business network through intermediation and raising awareness of inclusive employment among companies.

- Generate protected employment through the implementation of Social Economy initiatives (Insertion Companies and Special Employment Centers).

Other aspects included in the Report focus on the areas of Fair Trade, Social Economy and Ethical Finance.

Key aspects for the future

In addition to this, the Caritas Study Team has analyzed the effects of the crisis caused by the pandemic in the field of employment, which would be defined by three major factors: the significant destruction of employment as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, the strong exposure of essential productive sectors to contagion and precariousness, and the serious difficulties for labor and social integration.

In this sense, they wanted to emphasize how the destruction of employment has affected women and young people under 30 years of age much more intensely.

Caritas also wanted to point out key points for a sustainable and fair development in the field of employability in Spain, highlighting, among others, the need to create inclusive employment that really allows a decent life as well as a necessary adjustment of retraining and adaptation to the future production model and wanted to point out the negative consequences of the rupture of the social contract for the vital development of young people for whom work is blurred as a key element for their integration as well as the reality that employment is not the way of social integration for all people.