What is the Employability Rate in Spain?

Before the beginning of the economic crisis in 2007,

Spain’s economy was among the most prospering in the European Union, and it was one of the most prosperous in the world.

The country’s gross domestic product growth, on the other hand, has been fighting to recover since it was severely battered and formally entered a recession in 2009.

Even while Spain has benefited dramatically from bank lending due to the euro crisis, the nation has a long way before being considered economically stable.

There is still a substantial disparity between government revenues and expenditures in Spain, with expenditures being much more significant than revenues.

Looking at the GDP and federal debt of chosen euro nations today, it becomes clear that Spain’s GDP is larger than the GDP of other countries that the economic crisis has badly hit.

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According to the World Bank, when it comes to public borrowing inside the EU, Spain’s government deficit is one of the largest.

Since the beginning of the crisis, the employment rates have been steadily declining, while the unemployment rate in Spain has increased drastically and is continuously climbing.

Many individuals are losing their jobs, just as they have in other afflicted nations, while the younger generation, fresh out of university, is struggling to find work.

Many people are leaving the nation to pursue jobs in other parts of the world. Spain implemented a labor reform in 2012 that is beginning to take effect.

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Group of Students Planning

Why it is Hard for Young People

There are many reasons why young people have greater unemployment than their elders. Still, the most significant is that they typically have lesser work experience, less information about how to obtain work, and fewer connections to assist them in finding employment.

Furthermore, some younger folks lack the specific talents that various industries need, resulting in a hard transition from student to employment for some of these individuals. However, other labor practices, particularly in the EU employment rate , directly contribute to the issue of teenage unemployment over the long term, and it is essential to recognize these practices.

Young individuals are more likely than older persons to be employed temporarily. The advantage of using such contracts for businesses is that companies do not have to comply with restrictions that make it difficult to terminate full-time employees.

Before the financial crisis of 2008, approximately one-third of younger people working in industrialized nations were on temporary contracts of employment.

Before the crisis, 50% of the younger people working in Spain were engaged on temporary contracts, and they were the first to be let off as a result of the crisis.

The result was that younger people were out of work, but they also lost access to some of the social advantages that their previous occupations afforded.

Other factors contributing to the high prevalence of young unemployment include dropping out of school too soon and a mismatch between the supply-side between jobs and educational levels.

The Drop-Out Factor

Spain has a high proportion of school drop-outs, defined as the percentage of the population between 18 to 24 who have not finished secondary education and have not participated in technical education or training.

According to official figures, from 2005 to 2010, Spain had a drop-out of 30.6 percent. There is much more worry in Spain about the volume of drop-outs and the reality that the rate has been stable over the previous 15 years and has exhibited no correlation with the economy.

Spain’s employment rate has historically achieved a record high of 68.00 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 and a historic low of 58.60 percent in December 2013. In practice, during a crisis, the employment rate for persons with lesser educational levels plummeted dramatically, only to somewhat recover during boom times.

The consequences of the most recent crises have been particularly noticeable.

The employment rate for people with just early school or less dropped substantially to 43 percent, while the rate for those with only a lower secondary education dropped to 66 percent, respectively.

Those who graduated from university, on the other hand, had a different destiny as a result of the same crisis: the unemployment rate decreased across the board, but it fell less for those who graduated from other institutions.

At their lowest point, their employment rates dropped to 85 percent; for those with online training , it dropped to 80 percent; and for those with higher secondary education, it dropped to 77 percent.

For people between the ages of 40 - 49, the trend is quite similar.

However, the percentages of employment are more significant.

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Business Students Working On A Project Together

A Bright Future

The labor market in Spain has seen a significant transformation in recent decades. On the one side, the professional structure has been significantly transformed, resulting in a higher share of high-quality positions.

Meanwhile, the qualifications level of the labor has changed.

It is moving from such a low amount of training to a percentage of university graduates that is comparable to and, in some circumstances, even higher than that of the major OECD nations and, in some cases, even higher.

Together with these transformations, it is possible to see the fast integration of women into the workforce and a rise in flexibility due to fixed-term contracts.

These seismic shifts have contributed to the emergence of a labor force that has been highly influenced by business cycles, with phases of both large production and elimination of positions occurring at various times.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Spain’s youth employment rate for the age group 20-29 hit a record high of 69.40 percent in December 2007 and a historic low of 44.60 percent in December 2013.

In another survey, it was discovered that over half of undergrads major in human sciences and law; slightly more than 20% major as engineers and architects; 17 percent major in health sciences; and fewer than 10% major in arts, culture, and sciences.

During the previous ten years, the percentage of engineering and engineering students has decreased, while the proportion of students studying health sciences has increased significantly.

It is crucial to note that women make up the majority of individuals who receive a higher education certificate: 57 percent of those who obtained a higher education certification in the 2013-14 scholastic year.

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Living in Spain guide

Written by

Ryan Rosser

Master’s program, 2021

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