Ministry of Employment website -

Mar Serna Calvo was born in Aguilar de Campoo (Palencia), on 14 August 1955. She graduated in Law and Contemporary History at the University of Barcelona (1972-1977).

She began her professional career in 1977 as a labour-affairs lawyer with the UGT trade union (Catalan branch). She worked as a Labour and Social Security Inspector from 1984 to 2000.

From  1989 to 1991 she was Deputy Adviser for Labour Law and Labour Relations at the Regional Office of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for Latin America and the Caribbean, in Lima (Peru). She was later appointed as adviser for Labour and Social Affairs for the Spanish Embassies in Venezuela, Colombia and the Dominican Republic (1994-1997).

On returning to Catalonia in 1997, she worked as associate lecturer in Labour Law  in the Law Faculty of Barcelona's Pompeu Fabra University.

From 2001 to 2004 she acted as a labour-law magistrate for the Barcelona labour court.

In 20  June 2004 she was appointed to the post of Director General of Labour Relations at the Department of Employment and Industry, a post she held until the end of November 2006.

She has been Minister for Employment since 29 November 2006.