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CORRUPTION

Spaniards ‘worry most about jobless rate’

Unemployment continues to be the main issue of concern for most people in Spain but corruption and fraud are also gaining ground, the latest poll from the social research institute CIS has found.

Spaniards 'worry most about jobless rate'
Making noise: Unemployment and corruption in people have seen people taking to the streets at every more frequent intervals. Photo: Pepe Pont

The latest CIS Barometer for March shows that unemployment is clearly the chief preoccupation for most people in Spain, with 81.6 percent of people saying this is one of their top three concerns.

More and more people, however, are concerned about corruption and fraud.

A total of 44.5 percent listed these as being one of their top three concerns in Spain.

That's up from just 17.7 percent in the January 2013 CIS Barometer.

The research poll also found that nearly a third of all Spaniards (31.4 percent) thought that "politicians, political parties and the political climate in general" was one of the three biggest problems facing Spain.

In the latest CIS barometer, the social research institute also asked people about their preferred model of state.

Roughly a third of people (32.4 percent) of Spaniards said they favoured the current model with autonomous provinces.

Around a quarter of people, or 24.2 percent, said they would prefer a central government without autonomous regions.

Meanwhile, in terms of identity, 52.8 percent of people said they felt equally Spanish and a member of their own autonomous community.

Just 16.1 percent of CIS survey respondents said they felt "only Spanish".

The latest CIS study also asked people in-depth questions about their perceptions of the media.

Television was the main source of news for most Spaniards with nearly half of all people saying TV played a "great role" or a "substantial role" in forming their opinion.

For social media, this figure was just over 15 percent.

In terms of trust in the media. some 56.4 of respondents in the CIS poll rated their confidence from '4' to '6' out of a possible ten.

Again, people had the least trust in social media, with the average rating being 4.56 out of ten.

CIS interviewed 2,477 people aged 18 or over nationwide from March 1st to March 12th to obtain its results. 

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BUSINESS

Unemployment in France falls slightly despite the lockdown

Unemployment in France has fallen slightly, despite the ongoing ravages of the health crisis and consequent lockdown, latest statistics show.

Unemployment in France falls slightly despite the lockdown
Photo: Stephane du Sakatin/AFP

The number of unemployed job seekers in mainland France fell by 0.4 percent in the first three months of 2021, according to figures published by the French Ministry of Labour on Tuesday.

There were 3,560,600 unemployed registered at the Pôle Emploi (unemployment office), 12,200 fewer than during the last three months of 2020.

This follows a 2.7 percent fall in the final three months of 2020 – but the rate is still up 6.8 percent compared with the first three months of 2020, before Europe began to feel the economic impact of the Covid pandemic.

Currently all ‘non essential’ shops in France have been closed since April 3rd, while bars, restaurants, cafés, gyms, cinemas, theatres, museums and tourist sites have been closed since October 2020.

Despite the fall the total number of job seekers, the number of people who were in work but with reduced hours was up by 0.8 percent at the start of 2021, to 2,156,300.

That means that in total 5,716,900 people in mainland France were registered with Pôle emploi during this period, an increase of 4.9 percent compared with a year ago.

“Over the course of 2020, in one year, unemployment rose by 8 percent. This is obviously a lot, but we must remember that during the crisis of 2008-2009, unemployment leapt by 25 percent, so we can see that the government assistance is working,” Minister of Labour Élisabeth Borne told BFMTV on Tuesday.

The French government has put together a huge package of economic aid to try and mitigate the effects of the repeated lockdowns, from chômage partiel (furlough) schemes for employees to aid packages for business owners and the self-employed. But many small retailers have been hit hard by the three periods of closure for non-essential shops, while the tourist, leisure and hospitality sectors have also had a devastating year.

The economic downturn linked to the pandemic has disproportionately affected young people in France.  Across all categories of job seekers (unemployed and with reduced hours), the latest figures show a rise of 7.1 percent in a year for those under 25, compared to 4.5 percent for the 25-29 age range, and 4.8 percent for those aged 50 and over.

Men are also more likely to have signed up to Pôle emploi, with a 6.1 percent increase on last year, compared to a 3.8 percent increase among women.

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