The Secretariat of State for Employment is structured through five departments, two directorates-general focused on all kind of labour issues, two deputy directorates-general for the managing of the European Social Fund and a deputy directorate-general for statistics and studies.[1] As of January 2020, the Secretary of State managed a budget of €24.5 billion.
The Secretariat of State was created in 1981 with the name of Secretariat of State for Employment and Labour Relations.[3] This Secretariat of State provisionally assumed all the departments and powers of the defunct Ministry of Labour and specifically the functions of the Undersecretariat of Labour, being integrated into the new Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Security. That same year, Health and Work were separated by creating the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and degrading the Secretariats of State to Undersecretariats, assuming the powers of this Secretariat of State, which was suppressed.[4]
From 1985 to 2010, this department was maintained as an undersecretariat but with the denomination of "General Secretariat". It was in 2010, during the premiership of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, that the department was promoted again to Secretariat of State. The socialist government designed a structure for the secretariat that nowadays still exists, with the Directorate-General for Labour and the Directorate General for the Social Economy, Self-Employment and Corporate Social Responsibility.[5] The powers over the administration of the European Social Fund have varied constantly.
In 2020 it was renamed as Secretariat of State for Employment and Social Economy.[1]
Organization chart
The Secretariat of State consists in four departments of different rank and a Cabinet:[1]
The Directorate-General for Labour.
It is responsible for the labour relations and employment policies.
The Directorate General for Self-Employment, the Social Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility.
It is responsible for the government policies on social economy, self-employment and CSR.
The Administrative Unit of the European Social Fund.