Council of Ministers

The Government of Spain approves the bill to reduce working hours from 40 to 37.5 hours a week

Council of Ministers - 2025.5.6

The Executive has also approved the PERTE for the Industrialisation of Housing to accelerate and improve construction and has earmarked 1.157 billion euros for actions to boost cybersecurity and cyber defence.

Moncloa Palace, Madrid

6/05/2025. Press conference after the Council of Ministers. Ministers Isabel Rodríguez, Pilar Alegría, Yolanda Díaz, and Óscar López answer ... Ministers Isabel Rodríguez, Pilar Alegría, Yolanda Díaz, and Óscar López answer questions from the press after the Council of Ministers (Pool Moncloa /Borja Puig de la Bellacasa)

The Council of Ministers has agreed to send to the Lower House of Parliament the Draft Bill for the reduction of the maximum duration of the ordinary working day, the working day register and the right to disconnection. The regulation makes progress in reducing working hours without reducing wages.

The Second Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for Work and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, stressed that the project "changes people's lives" and contributes to the reconciliation of work and family life. She also framed the initiative within the modernisation of the world of work that the Executive has undertaken over the last five years, hand in hand with social dialogue. Yolanda Díaz highlighted the signing of more than 20 major agreements during this period, as well as the record number of jobs that Spain has achieved, with almost 21.6 million employees..

"The government, headed by the president, has delivered and now it is time for popular sovereignty to speak," said the vice-president. Yolanda Díaz added that the parliamentary processing of the bill will let us to know the position of each political group and advocated "opening up a great public debate" on this issue.

First reduction in working hours since 1983

The regulation establishes a maximum legal working week of 37.5 hours (the current working week, in force since 1983, is 40 hours).

"In Spain, we no longer work like we did in 1983. Fortunately, the world has changed a lot", said Yolanda Díaz, who underlined that many groups already enjoy a working day of 37.5 hours or less. In fact, on average, the new maximum means a reduction in working time of 48 minutes per week.

The Second Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for Work and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, at the press conference following the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez

The Minister for Work and Social Economy also argued that productivity in Spain has grown by 53% while the real remuneration of employees has only increased by 22%.

12.5 million beneficiaries

According to the Second Vice-President, the reform benefits 12.5 million workers, 10.5 million of whom work full-time and 2 million part-time. Among full-time workers, 60.5% of the beneficiaries are men, while in the case of part-time work, 75.3% of those who would see their working hours reduced are women.

By sector, more than half of the beneficiaries of the reduction fall into four sectors: commerce, manufacturing, hospitality and construction. The Second Vice-President pointed out that it is precisely in these areas that business margins have grown above average in recent years. In hospitality, for example, margins have increased by 105% since 2009 and by 35% since 2019.

By autonomous community, the largest number of beneficiaries of reduced working hours are in Catalonia, Madrid and Andalusia, which together account for more than 6 million workers, followed by the Valencian Community, Galicia and the Canary Islands.

PERTE for the Industrialisation of Housing

The Government has approved the Strategic Project for Recovery and Economic Transformation (PERTE) for the Industrialisation of Housing, which includes measures to build more and faster, and with greater sustainability and efficiency criteria to ensure that Spain has a public housing stock similar to the European average in the shortest possible time.

The Minister for Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, reiterated that the Executive will use "all the resources of the State to guarantee the constitutional right of access to decent and adequate housing and to consolidate this right as the fifth pillar of the welfare state".

Rodríguez explained that the government has a "clear and comprehensive housing policy" based on three principles: we need more housing, we need to improve regulation and we need to help those who have the greatest difficulties in accessing a home.

The Minister for Housing and Urban Agenda, Isabel Rodríguez, at the press conference following the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez

The PERTE approved today was announced on 24 April by the President of the Government of Spain and responds to the first of the principles: to increase the supply of housing by building faster and better.

More housing, more affordable and more sustainable housing

The minister explained that the PERTE, in addition to reducing construction times, aims to reduce costs in order to make housing affordable, as well as to produce in a more sustainable way. The project guarantees greater job security for a precarious sector, with a high accident rate and 33% of workers aged between 50 and 65. In addition, it aims to involve more women, includes training, innovation and digitalisation, and is committed to collaboration with small and medium-sized enterprises.

According to Isabel Rodríguez, industrialised construction will improve the quality of housing, reduce the environmental impact and construction times by between 20% and 60%, which will reduce costs and environmental impact.

Economic impact of the PERTE

The PERTE has a public investment of 1.3 billion euros to consolidate a production rate of 15,000 industrialised housing units per year and 20,000 housing units per year within ten years.

The minister added that the project could have a multiplier effect of 2.4 and will bring more growth to the Spanish economy. In addition, in order to develop an affordable public housing stock as soon as possible, industrialisation will be incorporated into public tenders.

In this regard, Isabel Rodríguez announced that the public housing company will award scores of up to 10% for industrialisation elements in its tenders. This means that the 1,600 housing units that will be put out to tender next week throughout Spain will incorporate this criterion. This will be the model: to incorporate, to value industrialisation in public tenders to support the sector and achieve the objective of producing industrialised housing within time frames similar to those in Europe, the minister summarised.

Rodríguez also pointed out that the PERTE will guarantee the cohesion of our country and will have a physical headquarters in Valencia, where the future Construction Industrialisation City will be located, a space that will combine industrial promotion, specialised training, project visibility and new construction solutions.

Boosting cybersecurity and cyber defence

The Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López, at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa /Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

The Council of Ministers has agreed to allocate 1.157 billion euros to actions to boost Spain's cybersecurity and cyber defence capabilities. These actions complement the measures included in the National Cybersecurity Plan approved in 2022 and are framed within the Industrial and Technological Plan for Security and Defence, announced by the President of the Government of Spain on 22 April.

The Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López, stressed that this agreement represents "the greatest investment effort in the history of Spain in the field of cybersecurity".

López added that, according to the International Telecommunications Union's 2024 report, Spain is ahead of the European average for cybersecurity and is in second place globally, after the United States, for the most cybersecurity centres: "We are not starting from scratch, Spain is already a leading country in cybersecurity, but with this 1.157 billion euro plan we are taking a truly colossal leap to strengthen it".

The minister also pointed out that Spain received more than 100,000 cyber attacks last year, of which one in three was serious. Organisations, companies and entities are on the receiving end of 70% of these, and citizens, 30%. Moreover, one in five crimes takes place online.

In this context, Óscar López reminded the public that the 017 telephone number of the National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE) is available to citizens, where they can make free and confidential enquiries about cybersecurity or, for example, report and ask for advice on cases of cyber bullying and impersonation.

Destination of the actions

The actions agreed today will take the form of 40 projects that will improve cybersecurity and cyber defence capabilities across a broad spectrum, from prevention, detection and protection to response and recovery.

The ministers during question time at the press conference after the Council of Ministers | Pool Moncloa / Jose Manuel Álvarez

The minister announced that the cybersecurity operations centre for municipalities with less than 50,000 inhabitants will be strengthened, the cyberspace operations centre will be developed and the National Platform for Notification and Monitoring of Cyber incidents will be improved. The cybersecurity of Red Iris, which is the network used by researchers and scientists, will also be strengthened.

Óscar López also announced that tomorrow he will meet with the cybersecurity sector to move forward with the implementation of the plan: "We want most of the investment to stay in Spanish companies and, if not, European companies, because it is also about strengthening our strategic autonomy.

Artificial intelligence office in Valencia

The Government has approved a voluntary contribution of 3 million euros to the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (UNODET), which aims to support global cooperation in Artificial Intelligence governance. UNODET will establish a division in Valencia dedicated to AI standards and policy research, risk classification and support for the secretariat of different initiatives coinciding with the monitoring of the Global Digital Compact over the next two years.

With this measure, Spain aims to bring the Spanish model of artificial intelligence to the centre of international negotiations. "Once again Spain is at the forefront in the development of artificial intelligence," said Óscar López.

Funding for agricultural insurance and rural development

The Minister for Education, Vocational Training and Sports and Government Spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, has announced the approval by the Council of Ministers of two new economic allocations proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The Government has approved, on the one hand, an allocation of 315 million euros for the implementation of the 46th Combined Agricultural Insurance Plan, "the biggest figure in history", as Alegría pointed out.

According to the spokesperson, since 2020 the government has increased by 50% the budget allocated to subsidise the purchase of agricultural insurance policies, a fundamental instrument for sustaining the sector's income, especially in view of the increasingly frequent occurrence of adverse weather events.

On the other hand, Pilar Alegría explained that the Council of Ministers has authorised the distribution to the autonomous communities of 158.2 million euros to finance rural development interventions which will make it possible, among other things, to improve the competitiveness of the agri-food sector, manage natural resources and promote much more balanced territorial development. These interventions are included in the National Strategic Plan for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2023-2027..