It is them, the girls, who obtain better academic data, but in the working world this is reversed and they are the ones who have the most possibilities. Because the economic gender gap continues to be pronounced among youth. It is one of the warnings made by the Economic Capabilities Index 2018-2023 prepared by the Reina Sofía Center of Fad Juventud presented this Thursday in Madrid. The report also warns that one in four young people in Spain is at risk of poverty and exclusion.
Unemployment is suffered more by young women and also by temporary employment, which affects them 7% more. These are just a couple of examples that the Youth Capabilities Index has found, prepared from 80 indicators and with which Fad Juventud tries to measure the degree of development of young people. “The gap is narrowing, but it is still noticeable,” laments Anna Sanmartín, deputy director of Fad and in charge of presenting the report: “Their data is better in the educational field, but when we look at work, the data is reversed.” ”, he highlighted.
Perhaps for this reason, it is women who have a more negative view of whether their job opportunities have improved compared to their parents, for example.
Spain is at the bottom in employment and emancipation data, although in educational matters it is average. And it is precisely education and the importance of investing in it that the majority of speakers who participate in the Youth in Perspective Forum have wanted to insist on. Among them Pablo Hernández de Cos, Governor of the Bank of Spain, who has focused a good part of his intervention on insisting that the educational level “increases growth.” Hernández de Cos has pointed out that education “helps equal opportunities” and has dedicated an important part of his explanation to talking about the benefits of Vocational Training to “promote employability.”
In addition, it has encouraged the incorporation of incentives for companies to collaborate in dual FP. He has also explained that an increase in jobs related to AI is being detected and has pointed out the importance of providing financial education because this can help to make “better savings or consumption decisions” and even have better criteria for voting in certain elections. elections.
The index presented by Fad also highlights that 27.3% of young Spaniards, that is, one in four, are at risk of poverty and exclusion. Although the data indicate that the level of economic development of Spanish youth has returned to pre-pandemic levels, the figures continue to warn of economic vulnerability to becoming independent. And although the figure is still very bad, “it has improved because we started from inconceivable figures,” explained Sanmartín.
Because young Spaniards have recovered the level of economic development they had before the pandemic thanks to the lower unemployment or temporary employment rate. But despite this first positive reading, there is still data that is of utmost concern. In addition to the risk of poverty, there are also worrying unemployment percentages (22.4% affected) or the savings capacity, which in 2023 has plummeted eight points. All of this makes this group very economically vulnerable. A vulnerability that affects the ability to become independent and also to be able to lead an adult life, forcing one to delay decisions such as starting a family or starting a business on a personal or professional level.
Thus, in all Index values, women are below men. And these worse data for women in terms of employment and its quality impact other indicators such as the risk of poverty or the ability to save, the report warns. All this influences the pessimistic view of the future.
