Ministry of Labour and Social Economy

Ministerio de Trabajo y Economía Social
Main door of the Ministry in the Nuevos Ministerios complex
Agency overview
Formed	May 8, 1920; 103 years ago (1920-05-08) (as Ministry of Labour) January 13, 2020 (as Ministry of Labour and Social Economy)
Type	Ministry
Jurisdiction	Spanish government
Headquarters	Nuevos Ministerios, Agustín de Bethencourt Street 4, (Madrid)
Employees	38,559 (2019)[note 1][1]
Annual budget	€ 29.5 billion, 2023[2]
Minister responsible	Yolanda Díaz, Minister
Website	www.mites.gob.es

The Ministry of Labour and Social Economy (MITES) is the department of the Government of Spain responsible for planning and carrying out the government policy on labour relations and social economy.^[3]

The MITES is headed by the Minister of Labour, a Cabinet member who is appointed by the Monarch at request of the Prime Minister. The Labour Minister is assisted by five high-ranking officials, the Secretary of State for Migration, the Secretary of State for Social Security, the Secretary of State for Employment, the Secretary General for Immigration and Emigration and the Under Secretary of Labour. The current minister is Yolanda Díaz.

History

The idea of creating a Ministry of Labour was manifested by the King Alfonso XIII in the opening of the Cortes of 1914 but the World War I delayed that purpose.^[4] The Ministry of Labour was finally created in the government of Eduardo Dato on May 8, 1920.^[5] It had previously existed Institute of Social Reforms (1903, heir of the Social Reform Commission, 1883) and the National Institute of Foresight (1908), which were integrated into the new Department. It also obtained the powers of the newly disappeared Ministry of Supply (1918-1920). It was also included in the structure of the ministry the Bureau of Labour of the Directorate General of Trade, Industry and Labour, the Emigration Council and the Board of Engineers and Pensioners Abroad.^[6] The functions of the Labour Inspectorate (1906) were also given to the new ministry.

In the Second Republic, the Minister Francisco Largo Caballero was issued the Decree about Workers Associations, through which these entities passed to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labour from the Governation Ministry.^[7]

In Francoist Spain the suppression of freedom of association, demonstration and strike as well as collective bargaining, the Ministry, without prejudice to the work of the Vertical Union, expanded its capacity for action, establishing up to the detail of working conditions.

After the Spanish transition to democracy, Social Security competences passed in 1977 to the newly created Ministry of Health, although Labour Ministry recovered them in 1981. In 1978 the National Employment Institute was created. Later, the creation in 1988 of the Ministry of Social Affairs meant the loss of social policies. Nevertheless, both Departments merged in 1996, after the electoral victory of the Popular Party, assigning itself for the first time the organisms Institute of the Woman and Institute of the Youth.

In 2004, with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as President of the Government, the Ministry of Labour assumes the immigration powers that until now resided in the Ministry of the Interior. In terms of social policies, in 2008 they were distributed between the Ministry of Education and the newly created Ministry of Equality (Now ministry of Health and Ministry of Equality have been merged).

In the X Legislature, from December 22, 2011, the Ministry is renamed Employment and Social Security, while retaining the same competencies. In the middle of the 12th Cortes Generales, the biggest opposition party, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, presented and won a vote of no confidence against the second government of Mariano Rajoy. After this event, Sánchez appointed Magdalena Valerio as the new Labour Minister, and he renamed the Department as Ministry of Labour, Migrations and Social Security.

In 2020, the new Cabinet of Sánchez integrated a new political party, Unidas Podemos, and the Prime Minister appointed Yolanda Díaz as new minister of Labour and Social Economy. The Department lost its responsibilities over social security and migration to the newly created Department of Social Security, which meant a reduction of its budget from €52 billion in 2019 to €25 billion in 2020, as well as losing control of more than 150 billion euros of the social security budget.

Structure

This ministry is structured in the following higher bodies:^[8]

• The Secretariat of State for Labour
  • The Directorate-General for Labour
  • The Directorate-General for Self-Employment
  • The Directorate-General for New Forms of Employment
  • The Administrative Unit of the European Social Fund
  • The Deputy Directorate-General for Programming and Evaluation of the European Social Fund
• The Secretariat of State for Social Economy
  • The Special Commissioner for the Social Economy
  • The Directorate General for the Social Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility
• The Undersecretariat of the Ministry
  • The Technical General Secretariat
  • The Budget Office
  • The Administrative Office
  • The Inspectorate-General of Services
  • The Deputy Directorate-General for Human Resources
  • The Deputy Directorate-General for the Regulation and Development of Human Resources of the Agencies and Social Security
  • The Deputy Directorate-General for Information and Communications Technologies
  • The Deputy Directorate-General for Financial Administration

Ministry agencies

• Economic and Social Council
• National System for Employment
• Labour and Social Security Inspectorate
• National Institute for Safety and Health at Work

List of ministers of labour

Reign of Alfonso XIII (1902-1923)

Dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923-1931)

Second Spanish Republic (1931-1939)

Dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1936-1975)

Reign of Juan Carlos I (1975-2014)

Beginning	End	Name		Party
12 December 1975	5 July 1976		José Solís Ruiz (6)
5 July 1976	4 July 1977		Álvaro Rengifo Calderón (6)
4 July 1977	28 February 1978		Manuel Jiménez de Parga Cabrera (6)		UCD
28 February 1978	3 May 1980		Rafael Calvo Ortega (6)		UCD
3 May 1980	9 September 1980		Salvador Sánchez Terán Hernández (6)		UCD
9 September 1980	26 February 1981		Félix Manuel Pérez Miyares (6)		UCD
26 February 1981	2 December 1981		Jesús Sancho Rof (8)		UCD
2 December 1981	2 December 1982		Santiago Rodríguez Miranda (9)		UCD
3 December 1982	25 July 1986		Joaquín Almunia Amann (9)		PSOE
26 July 1986	2 May 1990		Manuel Chaves González (9)		PSOE
2 May 1990	12 July 1993		Luis Martínez Noval (9)		PSOE
13 July 1993	5 May 1996		José Antonio Griñán Martínez (9)		PSOE
6 May 1996	20 January 1999		Javier Arenas Bocanegra (10)		PP
20 January 1999	21 February 2000		Manuel Pimentel Siles (10)		PP
21 February 2000	10 July 2002		Juan Carlos Aparicio Pérez (10)		PP
10 July 2002	17 April 2004		Eduardo Zaplana (10)		PP
18 April 2004	12 April 2008		Jesús Caldera Sánchez-Capitán (10)		PSOE
12 April 2008	20 October 2010		Celestino Corbacho (11)		PSOE
20 October 2010	22 December 2011		Valeriano Gómez (11)		PSOE

Reign of Felipe VI (2014-present)

Beginning	End	Name		Party
22 December 2011	7 June 2018		Fátima Báñez (9)		PP
7 June 2018	13 January 2020		Magdalena Valerio (14)		PSOE
13 January 2020	Incumbent		Yolanda Díaz (15)		PCE

(1) Ministry of Labour and Social Protection
(2) Ministry of Labour, Heath and Social Protection
(3) Ministry of Labour, Health and Justice
(4) Ministry of Labour and Protection
(5) Ministry of Labour and Social Attendance
(6) Ministry of Labour
(7) Ministry of Agriculture and Labour
(8) Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Security
(9) Ministry of Employment and Social Security
(10) Ministry of Labour Social Affairs
(11) Ministry of Labour and Immigration
(12) Ministry of Labour, Commerce and Industry
(13) Ministry of Trade Union Action and Organization
(14) Ministry of Labour, Migrations and Social Security
(15) Ministry of Labour and Social Economy