The report on the effects of the increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (SMI) commissioned by the Ministry of Labor but later

covered up by the body itself

reveals that the largest increase ever applied in the history of this indicator resulted in a reduction in inequality but also an increase in unemployment among a group made up mostly of women, young people and migrants.

The summary could be that tackling wage inequality through the SMI is an effective way, although it comes at a price in terms of employment, precisely among the most vulnerable.

The conclusions belong to the

Iseak Foundation

, which prepared the report for the Ministry led by Yolanda Díaz last year based on a sample of 35,000 people and taking as reference the labor market data to November 2018, the eve of the first relevant decision of Díaz, which was to raise the SMI by 22.3%.

The report, which should help measure the impact of future increases in the SMI, was reserved as non-public material by Trabajo.

At the request of

the Ostrom Institute

of Barcelona,

​​the Transparency Council

requested the report from Díaz last September, who sent it yesterday.

The group of economists led by Sara de la Rica points out in this report that the group affected by

the rise in the SMI to 900 euros

in 2019 represented 9% of the salaried population, which amounted to a total of 15.7 million people.

Among this group of

1.4 million people,

the overrepresentation corresponded to women, young people and migrants.

According to de la Rica, the measure had no impact in terms of job losses or adjustments in the intensity of the working day during the first months.

From the sixth month it was possible to verify how certain profiles began to suffer a gradual negative impact.

Unemployment in the affected group increased by almost 2% in November 2019

, 11 months after the entry into force.

The report does not quantify this job destruction in absolute terms, since it does not offer the unemployment rate for the group a year earlier.

It does point out that the impact is asymmetric between people, since it affects more those who have a full-time job than those whose employment is part-time and that there is a bias by age towards those over 30 years of age.

"There is also a slight

adjustment in hours worked

which, as in job loss, is zero in the short term but turns slightly negative over time. It is, in any case, of less intensity than that of job loss. employment," the report acknowledges.

The Iseak Foundation presents a scenario in which the reduction of inequality through increases in the Minimum Wage has a cost in jobs.

He praises the reduction in wage inequality as one of the successes of the measure.

"There is a significant drop in the number of salaried people below the new SMI. And, at the same time, a notable increase around the new SMI," she celebrates.

But, at the same time, it recommends as "fundamental" that, "in the face of future increases in the SMI, the impact of these on the labor market continue to be evaluated and, in addition,

the analysis be expanded to other areas

that have been left out of this work such as it may be the unequal impact by sector of activity, size of establishment or by territories".

Within a month, Minister Díaz will convene the social agents to discuss a new rise in the SMI that the unions expect to reach 1,100 euros.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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