Changes

[[File:Logo_Monografía.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Statistical graph: Empresas en situación de ERTE según Companies using furlough schemes according to economic sector económico. 2020. España.]]The labour market began to feel rapidly the impact of the pandemic short after 14 March 2020. The public administrations quickly took hefty measures to lessen the effects of lockdown for both companies and workers. One of the main priorities of Royal Decree Law 8/2020 of 17 March, on extraordinary urgent measures to reduce the economic and social impact of COVID-19, was to protect the productive and social fabric so that it could resume normal activity as soon as possible. One of the most important and effective mechanisms was Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, officially called ‘Temporary Employment Regulation Scheme’, which is a furlough-type instrument which already existed in Spanish regulation but was adapted to fit the new scenario. This instrument allowed companies to temporarily suspend an employment contract or reduce its working hours whilst keeping the employment relationship. Whilst this Scheme was in force, workers received a payment from the government to compensate for the total or partial loss of their salary. Two new furlough schemes were set, i.e. one due to force majeure and the other due to objective reasons. Both were intended to prevent lay-offs linked to uncertainty and the drop in activity caused by lockdown. The intensity and duration of the health crisis forced the public administrations to lengthen this mechanism on several occasions, to the extent that it was still in force in June 2021.

[[File:Logo_Monografía.jpg|left|thumb|300px|Map: Beneficiarios de prestaciones de desempleoBeneficiaries of unemployment benefits. 2019-2020. Spain.]][[File:Logo_Monografía.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Map: Hogares sin ingresosHouseholds with no income. 2019-2020. Spain.]][[File:Logo_Monografía.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Statistical graph: Evolución de los hogares sin ingresosEvolution in the amount of households with no income. 2005-2020. Spain.]][[File:Logo_Monografía.jpg|left|thumb|300px|Map: Hogares con todos sus miembros activos en paroHouseholds with all active members are unemployment. 2020. Spain. ]][[File:Logo_Monografía.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Statistical graph: Evolución de los hogares con todos sus miembros activos en paroEvolution in the amont of households with all active members are unemployment. 2005-2020. España.]]The first estimates of the impact of the pandemic on economy in Europe confirm that poverty rate is increasing in many states. In spite of the emergency measures put in force by the governments, the current situation is breeding a rise in income disparities between states and reducing the social and territorial cohesion of the continent. States in the south, and Spain in particular, have fewer jobs that may be carried out using home office, yet those who may work from home tend to be more qualified and have higher salaries than in other central European states. In addition, fewer medium and low-skilled jobs were deemed as being ‘essential’ in southern European states, suggesting that the impact of the pandemic on lower-income households was more significant than in other states.