void

Now they are returning to Romania leaving a void in the labor market

by

During the 2000s, Spain was the host country for many Romanian citizens. With the real estate bubble about to explode and a financial crisis in the making, the outlook in Spain was still better than that of the Romanian economy. Now, almost three decades later, those emigrants return to a growing Romania, leaving Spain without a valuable skilled labor. The Romanian exodus. According to Eurostat databetween 2010 and 2013, Romania’s population decreased by more than two million people. A good part of these people had emigrated to countries such as Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria or Israel. According to the INE data Regarding the foreign population residing in Spain in June 2013, the Romanian community was the largest in 2012 with 798,970 people of that nationality, closely followed by the Moroccan nationality with 771,632 people. The latest data from December 2025 available data reveal that, currently, the population of Romanians residing in Spain barely exceeds 609,270 people and has fallen to the third largest community in the country. Qualified workforce. Most of those migrants who arrived in Spain in the early years of the 2000s did so fleeing unemployment and the poor economic situation in sectors such as construction or agriculture in Romania. These new workers incorporated as labor for those sectors in Spain, and the second generation of those citizens was formed to become a skilled workforce for the Spanish labor market. The Romanian miracle. In recent years, the economic situation in Romania has given a turnaround. “When the Romanians overthrew its regime in a rapid (and violent) revolt in December 1989, it was one of the poorest countries in Soviet-dominated Europe. That is no longer the case. After a slow start, Romania’s free-market reforms took effect. The country’s economy has quadrupled in size since 1989, and it has joined NATO and the EU,” noted Daniel Fried, former US ambassador to Poland in a report for Atlantic Council. According to data According to the World Bank, the GDP Per Capita adjusted by purchasing power parity (PPP) of Romania has gone from 13,313 dollars in 1990 to 40,666 dollars in 2023, compared to the 31,639 dollars that Spain registered in 1990 and the 47,142 dollars in 2023. The most notable difference in the GDP of both countries was recorded precisely in the period of greatest migration of Romanians to Spain, between 2000 and 2012. This is what Csaba Balint, member of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Romania (BNR), rated of the “golden era” of the Romanian economy. Coming home: exodus 2.0. After the invasion of Ukraine, the economic boom and the Romania GDP growth has slowed down, but continues at a rate of 0.7% in 2025. However, this upward trend has built the foundations so that those first migrants who arrived in Spain in the 2000s can return to their country, just as the Spaniards who emigrated in the 60s and 70s returned years later. According to the immigration data According to the INE, between 2024 and 2025 alone the population of foreigners with Romanian nationality decreased by 11,193 people, chaining the downward trend of recent years. This workforce is now much better trained and more productive than the one that arrived at the beginning of the millennium. The return of Romanian citizens to their country is another factor in the labor shortage recorded by the construction sector, since a good part of this migrant population were bricklayers, carpenters, electricians or plumbers and they filled those positions that now they are left without generational relief. A version of this article was published in January 2025 In Xataka | With unemployment at historic lows, Spanish companies are looking for workers. The problem is that they can’t find them Image | Unsplash (aboodi vesakaran, Mina Rad)

They are declared null and void and he returns to work with 25,000 euros

by

There are work stories that seem taken from from the script of a series of Netflix lawyers, but they really happen. The story of a saleswoman at an Asturian paint store is one of them: in less than a year she went through two dismissals, two trials and ended up in the same position, but with the company sentenced to pay her more than 25,000 euros. as compensation. The most curious thing is that the whole mess started with something as simple as a change of schedule which she refused. Almost two years later, it has become clear to the company that it was not a good idea. The first dismissal: an excuse without evidence. As detailed in the sentence of the casethe employee had been working in the company since September 2023 with a permanent contract, combining administrative tasks with those of a salesperson in a paint store. In April 2024, the company fired her, alleging a “voluntary and continued decrease in normal work performance” as an argument for taking a disciplinary dismissal. However, the Social Court No. 6 of Oviedo did not believe it. The ruling stated that “the content of the dismissal letter is a standard format that is given to everyone the company wants to fire; and in fact it is stated that the plaintiff was working well but that she needs someone with more time availability.” That is, the court recognized that the company had fired her because she did not want to change her schedule, and they did so just eight days after she rejected it. As a result, the judge declared the void dismissalordered that she be reinstated under the same conditions and in the same position, and ordered the company to pay her 5,000 euros for violation of her rights, plus all the salaries she had stopped receiving since her dismissal. Back to work, and back in the spotlight. The employee returned to her position on September 25, 2024. Just ten days later, the company temporarily sent her to cover a replacement in one of its stores in another nearby town. At the end of October, when checking her email, she found a message from her sales manager in which she was accused of having made several drums and cans of paint disappear during the days she had been assigned to that store. The company gave him five days to explain the disappearance of the products. That same day, the employee succumbed to the pressure and a doctor estimated that he should undergo a medical leave due to generalized anxiety. Days later, the employee reported the pressure to the Labor Inspection, and in November the company reopened a disciplinary file against her. On December 19, 2024, the second disciplinary dismissal came, this time with three accusations: having stolen merchandise from the company, seriously insulting the manager and making an insulting phone call to the sales manager. The second trial: there was no evidence either. None of these accusations could be proven during the judicial process. The company did not present inventories or any objective evidence about the whereabouts of the missing drums. Regarding the alleged insults, the judge showed that the witness who corroborated them was not reliable, among other reasons because he had had a direct role at the first dismissal. Therefore, the court again declared the dismissal void, and once again ordered the company to reinstate the worker and pay her the wages not collected since the dismissal. Furthermore, for having relapsed in its conduct, the court sentenced the company to pay compensation Additional 11,249.50 euros for violating the employee’s rights. Protecting rights cannot have retaliation. The company appealed the ruling, but the Superior Court of Justice of Asturias confirmed it on January 27, 2026. The underlying reason for all this judicial farce is a basic principle: when a worker claims his rights before the court or denounces his company, the company should not take retaliation against the worker. If it does so, as the judges have correctly detected, the courts can declare the dismissal null and void and add extra compensation for the damage caused to the employee’s labor rights. In this case, the court assessed that everything occurred in a very specific context: the employee had already won a lawsuit for the first dismissal, she had only been back at the company for a few weeks and had just reported it to the Labor Inspection. With that history, and without the company could prove none of the accusations against him, the judges concluded that the second dismissal was retaliation. The final result accumulates a sum greater than 25,000 euros between compensation and unpaid salaries, and the unpaid salaries from the second dismissal are still pending. And all for one schedule change. In Xataka | If you resign, you need to give advance notice of voluntary resignation: how and when to give it Image | Illustrious Bar Association of OviedoUnsplash (Center for Aging Better)

Call of Duty announces a film, with which he will make a leap to the void, going beyond the children’s audience of other adaptations

by

It was clear: after the successes of ‘A Minecraft movie‘ either ‘Super Mario Bros.: The movie‘We were going to see new video game adaptations. AND ‘Call of Duty‘It was one of the undisputed franchises to receive a version on the big screen. Although his announcement also involves a distancing from other projects: a more adult series, with more serious themes, and that opens new ways for what could be the next great Hollywood reef. Paramount points. The renewed Paramount, now under Skydance’s wings, is the one that will be responsible for producing this adaptation of the Activision saga, which will appear in the movie’s credits as an advisor to everything that comes out on the screen. It is a turn that is not surprising coming from the producer: one of her last great hits in cinema was’Top Gun: Maverick‘, so it has all the meaning that wants to continue exploiting the war aesthetics with a franchise settled in the past. It is not the first time that Paramount tries, however: in 2018 he already tried to put an adaptation of ‘Call of Duty’ standing with the director of ‘Sicario 2’, Stefano Sollina, on board. A lifelong fan. On this adaptation, David Ellison, CEO of Paramount, said in statements that Deadline collects “As a fan of ‘Call of Duty’ of a lifetime, this is a dream come true. From the first allied campaigns in the original ‘Call of Duty’, going through ‘Modern Warfare’ and ‘Black Ops’, I have spent countless hours playing this franchise.” And makes the inevitable comparison: “We are addressing this film with the same discipline and the same unwavering commitment to excellence that guided our work in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, making sure that it meets the exceptionally high standards that this franchise and its fans deserve.” Good new times. Today the times in which adapting a video game were almost synonymous with guaranteed failure (at least artistic) seem. The huge software sales promoted adaptations, but gave rise to fiascos such as ‘Super Mario Bros.’ or ‘Street Fighter’ (today claimed as cult films, and both with new versions that – at least in the case of Mario – have cleaned the image of the franchises). Recall that for a while, the one who was considered a nefarious director, Uwe Boll, insisted on adapting a video game after another. Not everything is terrible. Despite the bad reputation of adaptations, we have had good films from the beginning: the first ‘Mortal Kombat’ is a great version and The ‘Resident Evil’ sagawith its ups and downs, it is full of humor, imagination and springs (and The despised 2021 adaptation It was great). ‘Silent Hill’ is remembered for its powerful macabra imagery and Lara Croft’s versions … well, they have not aged at all well but they are esteemed adventure films, and the 2018 version was very defensible. But none of that prepared us for the dump at the box office that would hit films such as those mentioned, to which successes such as ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’, ‘Uncharted’ or Pokémon movies, which we forget about them and although there is an anime through them are added, video games are part of their DNA. Adult cinema. All of them, however, have something in common: they are films oriented to children or, at most, to the family member. ‘Call of Duty’ is, therefore, a risk to which the sequelae of ‘Sonic’ are alien, for example. Paradoxically, franchise players are young and even There is an important group that is between 11 and 20. Paramount, however, may not want to escape the possibility of attracting spectators in a broader range of ages, with a more serious and violent film. If you get even more the arch of the spectators, you can have a real triumph on your hands. Header | Activision In Xataka | An urbanization was deserted in Valencia after the real estate bubble. Some geniuses have made it ‘Call of Duty’

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.