Second Vice-President of the Spanish Government and Minister of Labour and Social Economy

Ms Yolanda Díaz Pérez was born in Fene (Spain) in 1971. Second Vice
President of Spain since July 2021 and Minister of Labour and Social Economy
since January 2020.
She completed a Degree in Law and post-graduate studies in labour relations,
urban planning law and human resources. She also received training in Social
Protection, labour contracts, administration and gender.
After creating her own Law Firm in Ferrol, (A Coruña), she was elected
successively as member of Ferrol City Council (2007), the Regional Parliament
of Galicia (2012), and the Congress of Deputies (Spain’s’ National Parliament,
2016). In January 2020, Ms Díaz was appointed Minister of Labour and Social
Economy; in March 2021 she took office as Third Vice-President; and in July
2021 as Second Vice-President of Spain.

Three fundamental features have characterized her time in government:
tripartite social dialogue as the backbone of all her policies (facilitating social
agreements between Government and social partners), placing social justice
and labour rights at the centre of political action and giving an international
dimension to its political and legislative agenda.
As a Minister, she has promoted the transformation of the Spanish labour
market encouraging quality and decent work, in order to overcome historical
deficiencies and revitalize labour relations both in the field of legislative
innovation and public policies. In this sense, she fostered a major Labour
Reform in 2022, based on a tripartite social agreement, capable of ending the
duality of labour contracts and reversing the predominance of temporary
contracts. She also supported an outstanding increase in minimum wage from
736 euros in 2018 up to 1.134 euros in 2024, a 54% increase in six years.

Furthermore, and for the first time, recent economic crises have not been
resolved by job losses and cuts in labour and social rights. Rather and notably
during the pandemic, Minister Díaz promoted a protective short-time working
scheme that proved highly successful for employers and employees.
At international level (EU, ILO, OECD or G-20), she has made the rights of
workers her main priority, without forgetting that the competitiveness of
companies is not achieved by reducing labour costs, but through decent work,
training and increasing technological, digital and green skills.
On the political level, Yolanda Díaz leads the Spanish left with an emphatic
discourse based on dialogue and consensus. She launched the “Sumar” in
2022, a grassroots political movement that seeks to renew ideas and
imaginaries and build the country of the future with the civil society. In Spanish general elections of July 2023, Sumar obtained a 12’33% of the vote.