DYNAMICS OF SPANISH DEVELOPMENT AND ITS IMPACT ON EMPLOYMENT

Abstract

This article discusses the evolution of the Spanish economy during the second half of the twentieth century and early 2000s, trying to show through a historical and econometric understanding the strong influence that the construction industry has had on the level of employment. Such influence as will be discussed throughout this article, the result of a set of economic policies aimed at obtaining villas by families. These same economic policies begin with the dictatorship of Francisco Franco with its development strategy anchored in public policy for housing. Over the years 80, 90 and the 2000s, the sector of construction and real estate has gone through several changes in the way it operates in the promotion of villas, in a context characterized by a strong economic deregulation and restriction of macroeconomic policies resulting from the Treaty Maastricht. Before these same macroeconomic constraints, the Spanish unemployment was relatively low due to the financial incentives that boosted the construction sector, the latter being a major contributor to the low unemployment in Spain, as discussed throughout this paper.