The "stoic Spanish Soul" Seems Unable To Cope With Adversity

Andrew Jarman of Seville wrote in his history:

"I have lived and worked in Sevilla, Spain with my partner of 20 years, we have two son -.. 18 and 15 have children who are approaching the time when they should start thinking about the work is extremely worrying, with the use of young people running around 40%.

If Britain has seen the unemployment rate which is here, especially with the relative lack of benefits, it would be untenable, but there is one very important difference that the role of the family. Spanish society is still largely based around the family structure with people who help and protect each other accordingly.

Faith in the State and civil society is not so strong. It still seems somewhat foreign to me, when it was brought the idea of ​​Great Britain, that if you are old enough to work and do not have full-time education you have, more or less likely to take care of themselves, but at least in southern Spain, a lot of educated young people (and is a big part of why the training is very common) do not really start thinking seriously looking for work until their thirty years unless a later date, and is very happy to stay close to the family nest.

Another factor is that wages have not been raised here and the pay is not as large as Great Britain. Earn € 50,000 a year is a very well paid job, and not many people earn that kind of money. There are a huge number of people earning between € 1,000 and € 2,000 per month, and all around € 1500 is considered quite good. This leads to a situation where people have more modest ambitions.

That said, the cuts are biting hard and people have less money in your pocket. The banks have completely stopped lending money, and companies are suffering huge liquidity problems. "For Rent" ads are becoming increasingly popular in the shops were closed.

Many people work in the public sector and local authorities, which are dismissed or simply due to increasing amounts of wages. This is likely to worsen as long as the line PP party wins the election in the fall, as expected. The PP are big fans of the arrival of Cameron / Osborne.

As the independent working primarily in the area of ​​language, we have seen our incomes decline significantly. Reducing dramatically on social activities like going out for drinks and food, etc., which are central to Spanish life, we can get by OK for now.

What seems to be true in spite of all this, however, is that perhaps this is that Spain is a relatively prosperous country 30 years or so - over the next 40 years in difficulty Franco - many people are very quiet and seems to feel that things go in cycles. Growing wealth, can not yet be wired Spanish soul, and people seem to think that until you can afford a beer and a certain sense, things are probably fine. "