ABSTRACT
After 1984, temporary contracts were often presented as a fundamental option for job creation: they would make a rigid labour market more flexible. The next decade introduced the Golden Age of Temporary Employment – an essential structural feature of the labour market. Subsequent strong growth (1995–2007) established an unsuccessful dialogue between social agents for the promotion of permanent employment. Labour regulations proposed by the Socialists in 2010 to effectively limit temporary work were suspended in 2011. Early in 2012, the Popular Party introduced a new law on labour market reform facilitating worker dismissal. The stated explanation was that employment stability provides no incentive for effort and generates excessive resistance to adapt to new needs. In reality it defended temporary employment as a disciplinary measure.
