The new government measure is part of the work being done by the Economic Response Coordination Centre and will be implemented via Barcelona Activa. The plan sets out short-term action for 2020:

• Subsidies for offering employment contracts of at least six months to the under-30s and the over-45s
• Training in digital work
• Shock employment plan for young people, with a package of labour insertion measures for youngsters.
• Public contracts for unemployed people with special difficulties
• Fusion of the Biz and the Saló de l’Ocupació into one new fair, on-site and online
• Reactivation of the local economy, with subsidies of up to 80% of the cost of the project

In the longer term, with a view to 2021, new areas of work include:

• Shock programme to handle the expected increase in people needing support.
• Evolution of telematic formats and re-dimensioning of Market Place services by Barcelona Activa to find work by sector.
• Face to face and online professional and technical training.
• Roll-out of sectoral projects with better connections to strategic sectors in cooperation with the sectors generating jobs.
• Special shock employment plan for the most vulnerable groups, with the goal of improving professional qualifications and labour insertion for people with disabilities.

The plan responds to the current indicators in the city, which show there are over 90,000 people out of work in the city, a rise of 40.9% compared to the same period last year. The data also show that the groups hit hardest by the crisis are:

• Young people in their twenties, where unemployment is up to 40%.
• Women, who are the main workers in essential services during the emergency and do not always get enough recognition or have decent conditions.
• Poorly qualified people, who have been hit hardest by the elimination of jobs.
• Workers in the services sector, where the most jobs have been lost.

These groups are the main target for the shock plan to create jobs. The plan is the result of the municipal government’s will to save companies and the self-employed, safeguard jobs in the city and provide incentives for the creation of new employment.