Budgets Committee approves aid for redundant textile workers in Spain | WPN World People News

Unemployed textile workers in Spain’s Valenciana region could get European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) aid worth €840,000 to help them find new jobs under plans approved by Parliament's Budgets Committee on Tuesday. The aid still has to be approved by Parliament as a whole and the Council of Ministers.

The EGF aid would help to pay for measures such as individual counselling, vocational training, help in setting up a private business or intensive job-search assistance for 300 of the 560 workers made redundant by 198 textile firms.

This aid would meet half the cost of a €1.68 million aid package, the other half of which would be met by Spain.

Competition from China
The redundancies are the result of major structural changes in world trade patterns, especially due to competition from China and other Far Eastern countries. They further aggravate unemployment in the region, which has already grown from 9.61 % in the first quarter of 2008 to 29.1% in the first quarter of 2013.

The textile manufacturing sector has been the subject of 11 EGF aid applications, six of which were from the Valenciana region.
Background

The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund contributes to packages of tailor-made services to help redundant workers find new jobs. The annual ceiling of the fund is €500 million. Redundant workers are offered measures such as support for business start-ups, job-search assistance, occupational guidance and various kinds of training. In most cases, national authorities have already started the measures and will get their costs reimbursed by the EU when their applications are finally approved.

Source: European Parliament