Spain’s Labor Inspectorate has launched new action against abuses in hiring and, specifically, has focused on temporary employment agencies, reports El Diario.es. Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, who announced the new campaign, said action has already begun and involves the sending of more than 4,600 letters and said it will look into approximately 45,000 temporary jobs for possible fraud. Although the Labor Inspectorate works regularly with temporary employment agencies, on this occasion the public body has deployed a specific campaign in light of signs of fraud. This campaign is about sending letters to companies before the detection of irregularities.

Currently there are around 184,000 people affiliated through temporary employment agencies, according to data from the Social Security for the last month. The Labour Inspectorate’s announcement that it will look at approximately 45,000 jobs means this will come to one in four jobs in the temporary employment sector.

Adecco in Spain commented that it has not received any letter from the Inspectorate and maintains that the company is calm about the procedure, since the Inspectorate annually monitors compliance with the law in the sector.

Spain’s labour reform was approved last year. The Spanish government claims the new reforms aim to reduce the country’s high number of temporary contracts and avoid layoffs. Since the reforms, the number of temporary employment contracts have fallen.