ABSTRACT
It seems that the high rates of unemployment experienced in Spain during the same period of 1992-95 probably had a lessening effect on attitudes toward giving preference to European over Spanish workers, so that, in spite of the fact that unemployment has decreased steadily since 1996, Spaniards have continued to favour their fellow countrymen. The proportion saying that ‘it makes no difference’, however, has been
increasing during the last year, and in 2002 the proportion favouring the Spanish worker is the same as the joint proportion who would rather give the job to the European or who think that ‘it makes no difference’. For the time being, however, the fact remains that Spaniards seem not to accept the real consequences (and not the abstract and hypothetical consequences) of the European Union agreement on ‘the free movement of products, services and individuals’ statement with which a great majority of them would agree.
