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1. Introduction
International organisations, such as the International Labour Organization (ILO, 2021) have summarised the measures implemented during the COVID-19 crisis of 2020 into the following three groups: health protection measures, support of economic activity and workers' support.
In this paper, we analyse the institutional changes in the Spanish labour market in the light of the measures introduced to support workers. To that end, we combine three theoretical frameworks: the institutional theory of liberalisation trajectories (Thelen, 2014; Baccaro and Howell, 2017), the four ideal-typical reformist strategies available to southern European governments (Bulfone and Tassinari, 2021) and the literature of social pacts (Avdagic et al., 2011).
These three theories discuss how public policies that affect labour institutions are shaped in Mediterranean countries and the participation of social actors in the social and economic contexts following the Great Recession. The case of Spain is of interest given the substantial change in labour policy and the re-emergence of the social concertation process during the COVID-19 crisis. Despite all European governments having developed short-time work schemes, there are notable differences amongst them. Muller and Schulten (2020) present the different coverage rates and benefit generosity in European countries whereas the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) (2020) report studies these differences in regulation in detail. Furthermore, Eurofound (2021) states that in most countries a significant number of policy measures were adopted without meaningful consultation with social partners.
In the light of this evidence, we propose the following research questions (RQs):
What kind of institutional change has taken place during the COVID-19 crisis in the Spanish labour market?
What reformist strategy has been followed by the Spanish government?
How have social partners participated in the elaboration of the labour policies?
Applying these theoretical approaches, our first hypothesis is that institutional change was a conversion into measures to maintain employment and layering in unemployment protection. The second hypothesis is that the labour policy response to the crisis provoked by COVID-19 in Spain has ranged from a strategy of preservation of the social democratic coalition to the anti-bourgeois bloc coalition. Finally, the third hypothesis holds that the tension between these reformist strategies has implied a greater presence of social pacts and the support of the social partners.
Our methodology consists...