Aware of the requests of local institutions, the Commissioner develops a framework in which to establish, together with the State Public Employment Service (SEPE), the lines of work to be followed to strengthen active employment policies and support the economic and social reconstruction of the island. Izquierdo stressed that “as we have seen during these three years that specific employment plans have been approved for La Palma, much of the economic impulse is to encourage employability, training and business and professional orientation”.
More than 135 million in labor matters
This new transfer of 12 million, which is made through direct funding to the Autonomous Community, is in addition to those that the State has been carrying out after the volcanic eruption, allowing continuity to the programs launched in previous years. In 2022, a budget for the Extraordinary Employment and Training Plan of 63 million euros was approved in the General State Budgets, which in 2023 became 30 million euros and added another 30 million euros for the last quarter of 2024 and the whole of 2025. In total, more than 123 million euros exclusive to La Palma have been allocated to employment policies. “To put it in context, the State-Canary Islands Employment Plan allocates 45 million euros for all the islands in 2026, so we can imagine the impact that these amounts represent for the palm labour market,” explains the High Office of the National Administration.
The actions foreseen in these employment plans include measures to improve the employability of vulnerable groups, vocational training, hiring the unemployed and support for strategic sectors. The philosophy is to give opportunities to unemployed people, so that they can integrate into the labor market. “Although the biggest challenge is to integrate into the private labor dynamic, since public employment plans have a fixed maximum duration,” warns Izquierdo. “We will always be on the side of the affected person looking for solutions to their demands and, as the volume of needs decreases, in parallel with the increase in employment rates and population growth, there is an organic de-escalation of public injection and the attention is maintained from other levels of administration, either autonomous or local,” he clarifies.