Spain's government on Tuesday, September 29, reached an agreement with union bosses and employers to extend its coronavirus furlough scheme until the end of January, despite the impact on public finances.
It is the second time the scheme has been extended, with some 750,000 people currently benefiting from furlough conditions, down from a peak of 3.4 million at the height of the lockdown. A commitment to fund such temporary unemployment schemes was one of the key measures put in place by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government to bolster an economy battered by months of lockdown.
"The ban on layoffs remains in place," Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz told a press conference, saying the new deal was"key to finding a way out of the crisis."Talks with employers went down to the wire over differences about the criteria for choosing firms eligible for the scheme, with some fearing they would be excluded, notably in the hotel sector.