| Secretary of State for Labour | |
|---|---|
| Secretario de Estado de Trabajo | |
.svg) Coat of Arms used by the Government | |
 | |
.jpg) Incumbent since January 15, 2020Joaquín Pérez Rey | |
| Ministry of Labour and Social Economy Secretariat of State for Labour | |
| Style | The Most Excellent (formal) Mr./Ms. Secretary of State (informal) |
| Nominator | The Labour Minister |
| Appointer | The Monarch |
| Precursor | Under-Secretary of Labour |
| Formation | March 6, 1981 |
| First holder | Manuel Núñez Pérez |
| Website | www.mites.gob.es |
The secretary of state for labour, formerly known as secretary of state for employment, is a senior minister of the Spanish Ministry of Labour responsible implementing the government policy on labour and its relations, working conditions, unemployment benefits and promotion of employment and self-employment. It is also responsible for managing the European Union funds of the European Social Fund Plus.[1]
The current secretary of state is Joaquín Pérez Rey, a University of Castilla–La Mancha professor and head of the University's Labour and Social Security Law Department.[2]
History
The Secretariat of State was created in 1981 with the name of Secretariat of State for Employment and Labour Relations.[3] This Secretariat of State provisionally assumed all the departments and powers of the defunct Ministry of Labour and specifically the functions of the Undersecretariat of Labour, being integrated into the new Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Security. That same year, Health and Work were separated by creating the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and degrading the Secretariats of State to Undersecretariats, assuming the powers of this Secretariat of State, which was suppressed.[4]
From 1985 to 2010, this department was maintained as an undersecretariat but with the denomination of "General Secretariat". It was in 2010, during the premiership of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, that the department was promoted again to Secretariat of State. The socialist government designed a structure for the secretariat that nowadays still exists, with the Directorate-General for Labour and the Directorate General for the Social Economy, Self-Employment and Corporate Social Responsibility.[5] The powers over the administration of the European Social Fund have varied constantly.
In 2020, the area of social economy was strengthened, with both the ministry and its state secretariat being named, and including this term in their name.[6] Subsequently, in 2022 a Special Commissioner for the Social Economy would be created and, in 2023, these responsibilities were separated to create an independent State Secretariat.[7]
Organization
The Secretariat of State consists in four departments of different rank and a Cabinet:[1]
| Secretariat of State Organization (2026) | |
|---|---|
| Secretary of State | Cabinet (Chief of Staff) |
| Administrative Unit of the European Social Fund | |
| Deputy Directorate-General for Programming and Evaluation of the European Social Fund | |
| Deputy Directorate-General for Statistics and Socio-Labour Analysis | |
| Labour and Social Security Inspectorate | |
| State Public Employment Service | |
| Salary Guarantee Fund | |
| National Institute for Safety and Health at Work | |
| Directorate-General for Labour |
Deputy Directorate-General for Labour Relations |
| Deputy Directorate-General for Regulatory Planning | |
| Directorate-General for Self-Employment |
Deputy Directorate-General for Self-Employment |
| Directorate-General for New Forms of Employment |
Deputy Directorate-General for New Forms of Employment and Labour Market Foresight |
List of secretaries of state
| No. | Image | Name | Term of office | Ministers serving under: | Prime Minister appointed by: | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Began | Ended | Duration | |||||
| 1.º | _Adolfo_Su%C3%A1rez_se_dirige_a_los_participantes_de_una_comida_de_fraternidad_en_el_pabell%C3%B3n_de_los_deportes_de_Le%C3%B3n_durante_la_campa%C3%B1a_electoral._Pool_Moncloa._10_de_febrero_de_1979_(cropped).jpeg) |
Manuel Núñez Pérez | 6 March 1981 | 19 December 1981 | 288 days | Jesús Sancho Rof | Adolfo Suárez |
| Under-Secretary of Labour and Labour Relations (1981-1982) and General Secretariat for Employment (1985–2010) | |||||||
| 2.º | .jpg) |
María Luz Rodríguez Fernández | 30 October 2010 | 31 December 2011 | 1 year, 62 days | Valeriano Gómez | José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero |
| 3.º | _Entrega_del_Proyecto_de_Presupuestos_de_2018_(38016137176)_(cropped).jpg) |
Engracia Hidalgo Tena | 31 December 2011 | 27 June 2015 | 3 years, 178 days | Fátima Báñez | Mariano Rajoy |
| 4.º | |
Juan Pablo Riesgo Figuerola-Ferreti | 27 June 2015 | 19 June 2018 | 2 years, 357 days | ||
| 5.º | .jpg) |
Yolanda Valdeolivas García | 19 June 2018 | 15 January 2020 | 1 year, 214 days | Magdalena Valerio | Pedro Sánchez |
| 6.º | |
Joaquín Pérez Rey | 15 January 2020 | Incumbent | 6 years, 167 days | Yolanda Díaz | |
References
- Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service (22 May 2024). "Real Decreto 502/2024, de 21 de mayo, por el que se desarrolla la estructura orgánica básica del Ministerio de Trabajo y Economía Social, y se modifica el Real Decreto 1052/2015, de 20 de noviembre, por el que se establece la estructura de las Consejerías de Empleo y Seguridad Social en el exterior y se regula su organización, funciones y provisión de puestos de trabajo". Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 March 2026.
- H/Creada:12-01-2020, La RazónÚltima actualización:12-01-2020 | 14:44 (2020-01-12). "Joaquín Pérez Rey, secretario de Estado de Trabajo, y Verónica Martínez Barbero, nueva directora general de Trabajo". La Razón (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-01-15.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - "Royal Decree 325/1981, of 6 March, by which certain organs of the State Administration are restructured". www.boe.es. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
- "Royal Decree 2966/1981, of December 18, by which certain organs of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security are restructured and suppressed". boe.es. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
- "Royal Decree 777/2011, of June 3, by which the basic organic structure of the Ministry of Labour and Immigration is developed". boe.es. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
- "Real Decreto 499/2020, de 28 de abril, por el que se desarrolla la estructura orgánica básica del Ministerio de Trabajo y Economía Social, y se modifica el Real Decreto 1052/2015, de 20 de noviembre, por el que se establece la estructura de las Consejerías de Empleo y Seguridad Social en el exterior y se regula su organización, funciones y provisión de puestos de trabajo". Official State Gazette (in Spanish). 1 May 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2026.
- Ministry of Finance and Civil Service (6 December 2023). "Real Decreto 1009/2023, de 5 de diciembre, por el que se establece la estructura orgánica básica de los departamentos ministeriales". Official State Gazette (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 March 2026.