Spain's Youth Unemployment Hits Historic Low

New data released by the Spanish government reveals a significant drop in youth unemployment, reaching an all-time low. However, it is important to note that despite this positive trend, a substantial number of young people under the age of 25 are still working part-time.

The latest figures published by the Labour Ministry on June 2nd indicate that the current number of unemployed individuals under 25 in Spain stands just below 190,000, the lowest in the entire recorded history. The Labour Minister, Yolanda Díaz, emphasised the significance of this decline, stating that it represents a remarkable milestone.

Nevertheless, the statistics also reveal that four out of ten people under 25 are employed on part-time contracts, despite the fact that 38.8 percent of them desire full-time employment. In May alone, one in five temporary contracts were signed by individuals under 25, totaling 137,132 contracts, according to data from the State Public Employment Service.

The implementation of labour reform in the first quarter of 2022 aimed to reduce the number of temporary contracts and shift towards more permanent employment. As a result, 66.3 percent of the 1.1 million individuals under 30 who held temporary contracts in the first quarter of 2022 and are still registered, have transitioned to permanent contracts, amounting to 746,763 young people.

However, the rise in permanent contracts has coincided with an increase in part-time employment among young individuals. Joaquín Pérez, the general secretary of the Unión Sindical Obrera (USO), expressed concerns about the impact of part-time work, stating that few hours or days per month are insufficient for individuals to sustain their livelihoods.

Specifically, the data from the Ministry of Labour's Report on Youth and the Labour Market, which includes the latest figures from the Active Population Survey (EPA), indicates that 41.4 percent of employed individuals under 25 years of age work part-time. This figure is slightly higher than the previous year's first quarter (40.2 percent) and significantly higher than the same period in 2019 (37.28 percent). When expanding the age range to those under 30, the percentage of young people with part-time contracts drops to 26.7 percent but remains substantially higher than the overall rate of 13.7 percent.

Notably, women are more likely to be offered part-time contracts compared to men, both in the population of under 25 and under 30 year olds. The part-time employment rate for women rises to 51.85 percent among those under 25 and 33.79 percent among those under 30, in contrast to rates of 32.72 percent and 20.36 percent, respectively, among men.

Antonio Báez, the Vice President of the Spanish Youth Council (CJE), highlights the challenges faced by individuals on part-time contracts, emphasising that lower salaries make it difficult to cover expenses such as rent, housing, and daily living costs.

Source

https://www.thelocal.es/20230605/four-out-of-ten-young-people-under-25-in-spain-only-work-part-time