Temporary paid leave throughout the life course. Assessments from Spanish political and social actors

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present the assessments, made by Spanish political and social actors, of the so-called “temporary leave” (TL). It is a novel social policy proposal, consisting of the possibility, always voluntary, of enjoying some years of paid leave throughout life, in exchange for proportionally delaying the moment of retirement. The proposal is linked to paid work, being the years of contributions that would generate the new right. Semi-structured open interviews have been conducted with representatives of the main political and social actors (parties, employers and trade unions). Among the most noteworthy results is the broad acceptance of the TL proposal, which has been positively valued both by liberal organizations (who see TL as a way to increase individual freedoms), and by more interventionist organizations (which understand that it is a new right of people who need a job to survive, and with a broad equal potential). It is concluded that RT is a viable proposal for political and social negotiation.