Food, Home and Style

Recession Dispatch from…Madrid

Thanks to “la crisis,” Spaniards are struggling to keep their jobs more than any other country in Europe. Unemployment has rocketed in Spain to 15%, leaving more than 3 million out of work. Retirement packages are being handed out early, younger workers are being fired, and financial incentives for legal immigrants to leave on a paid return program are in place. With people moving out and younger folks out of jobs, Madrid is filled with “for rent” signs. It’s likely that come September, rents are going to fall even more. Need a cheap place to wait out the Recession, anyone?

A few years ago, when I moved here from New York, things were different. Spain was pegged as one of the fastest growing economies, and lured immigrants from Romania, Morocco, Peru, Ecuador, and West Africa.  In 2000, the foreign born population in Spain made up 10% of its 50 million inhabitants. Most work was in construction, farming, and servant labor. In 2005, houses built in Spain outnumbered those built in France, Germany, and Britain. Three years ago, a mass amnesty by the Spanish government legalized foreigners so they could draw unemployment benefits.  But now, with the economic slowdown, and most Spaniards out of work, the government is paying foreigners to get out, hoping to create more jobs for citizens. When there’s work for everybody, things are fine, but now tensions between immigrants and Spaniards are on the rise, and crime has gone up. I’m hearing more stories of muggings and people being followed to bank machines. The streets of Madrid have more homeless people asking for money and sleeping on the streets.

All of the above sounds bad, but somehow, restaurants, bars, and cafes still thrive. People here still work to live, rather than the other way around, so life goes on with a certain amount of gusto no matter what the employment statistics say. Bars and eateries aren’t as packed as they once were, but they are still making ends meet. One restaurant called Monteditos, which sells small sandwiches, has lowered prices and changed the menus, optimistically announcing, “We’ve beat the crisis.” The supermarkets are selling more of their own brand than commercial brands, and stores are stocking less merchandise. In my neighborhood, more small boutiques are opening daily because the government is giving grants to small business proposals to stimulate the economy.

Though jobs are being lost, and immigrants are moving back to their own countries, there’s one group in Madrid that hasn’t greatly been affected: English-speaking foreigners. I have many friends who teach English in Madrid, and they’re sitting pretty. Some have lost jobs with big companies, but they aren’t worried because there are still plenty of teaching jobs to go around. Earning anywhere from 18-35 euro an hour, most English teachers make more in a five hour day than others working eight hours a day. Lots of teachers who thought they would move back to the states have decided to stay, finding that there’s more work for them in Madrid than at home. Although economists are noticing a shift away from New York as the financial capital of the world, and many people are now scrambling to learn Chinese, English is still in demand in Madrid. It’s the language of business, and if you want to move up in the ranks, it’s a must-have.

Though unemployment in Spain and in Madrid is on the rise, I still plan to stay. The way of living here doesn’t force me to spend money, and if I need to make extra money, I can find a teaching job. If I were in New York, finding extra income would be difficult. As a foreigner who speaks English and lives abroad, I’m finding that it’s actually easier to survive the crisis outside of the United States.

Tags: Dispatch, la crisis, Madrid