Now, onto more serious stuff; the latest economic data for Spain indicates a national unemployment rate approaching 20%. In Andalucía, it’s higher still, about 24%.  And in Salobreña, the Mayor has just announced that we have at least 21% unemployment within our small community. That is, according to Hizzoner, at least 1,700 people without work – in a community of how many people – about 10,000 in total?  If you apply the usual formula of 50% being of working age, these data would indicate an effective unemployment rate in excess of 30% in Salobreña.
Sr. Jesus Avelino Menendez, our Mayor, is at his wit’s end as to what to do, in order to help the increasing number of people who are simply unable to feed their families. The Town Hall is out of money; he is appealing to banks and utility companies to grant people more time to pay their bills before severe measures (i.e. repossession) are taken; and he is also suggesting that he will initiate a ‘public eating place’ to supply at least one meal a day for those who simply cannot put food on their own tables.
However, he needs volunteers in order to make this happen. Seems to me that this can’t be a bad thing to do. What do you think? I’m happy to collect names, etc. As much as we complain about the weather and everything else, most of us don’t have to worry about feeding our children, turning our pet animals out onto the street, or selling our furniture in order to buy food. We have, at least, some spare time we could contribute, don’t you think?
If you’d like to do something to help the community, contact me at the address in the mag. That’s salobrena@seasidegazette.es. I’ll do my best to see if we can form some kind of action group, or at least get together a list to pass on to the Town Hall.
However, speaking of unemployment, it should be noted that approximately 20% of the Spanish working population is ‘gainfully’ employed in what is laughingly called the ‘Civil Service.’ Being neither particularly ‘Civil’ (try asking a tricky question) nor a ‘Service’ (try asking them to actually do something)
When you add unemployment figures to the number of Civil Servants, you end up with something around 40% of the (working) population being economically inactive – and that’s a mild estimate (a.k.a. Government statistics, a.k.a. possibly not quite the truth). Which leaves about 60% of the available working population actually generating anything that could even remotely be called ‘wealth.’
Here’s some more economic data to cheer you up. Spanish banks are now the largest owners of property in the country. Over the past twelve months, they have taken over (i.e. repossessed) 170,000 private properties in foreclosure proceedings. Not to mention the assets of now bankrupt builders and developers.