2014, the Spanish economy had reversed its negative trend and started creating jobs for the first time since 2008. The second quarter reversal had been sudden and extraordinary considering that the number of jobs created set an absolute positive record since such quarterly employment statistics are maintained in 1964. Labor reform did seem to play an important role; one piece of evidence cited was that Spain had started creating jobs at lower rates of GDP growth than before: in previous cycles, employment rose when growth hit 2%, this time the gain came during a year when GDP had expanded by just 1.2%. Greater than expected GDP growth paved the way for further declines in the unemployment rate. Since 2014 Spain has been registering steady annual fall in the official jobless figure. During 2016, unemployment in Spain experienced the steepest fall on record to date. By the end of that year, Spain had recovered 1.7m of the more than 3.5m jobs lost over the course of the recession. By Q4 2016 Spanish unemployment had fallen to 18.6%, the lowest rate in seven years. In April 2017 the country recorded its biggest drop in jobless claimants for a single month in the entire historical series to date. Job creation kept speeding up; in this regard, May 2017 was the best May to date in terms of social security affiliations since this record was started in 2001 and during that month jobless claims fell to the lowest figure since June 2009. In the second quarter 2017, unemployment fell to 17%, below 4 million for the first time since 2008, with the country experiencing its steepest quarterly decline in unemployment on record to date (series starts in 1964). In 2018, at 14.6% the unemployment rate did not exceed the 15% threshold for the first time since 2008 when the crisis began. As of 2017, trade unions, left, and center-left parties have criticized and wanted the labor reform to be revoked, on grounds that it tilts the balance of power too far towards employers. Besides, most new contracts are temporary. In 2019, Pedro Sánchez's socialist government increased the minimum wage by 22% in an attempt to boost hiring and encourage spending. Members of the opposition argued that this increase from €858 to €1050 a month would negatively affect 1.2 million workers due to their employers being unable to cover the aforementioned raise. Reduction of European