"Currently finding employment for youth is not a guarantee of escaping from poverty or having access to basic goods such as housing", the organization Ayuda en Acción is so clear after publishing this Tuesday a prospective study on youth and employment in Spain by 2030.
The organization warns that, despite the improvements in employment conditions, inequality persists, and the emancipation age in 2030 will continue to be well above the average for countries in the European Union.
The study shows that youth employment continues to be the most precarious, with a rate of temporary employment and part-time employment much higher than that of society as a whole. While temporary employment has decreased 3.6 points in the population aged 20-64 since 2008, in people aged 15-24 it grew by 9.9 points and in those aged 25-34 the increase was 3 points during the past decade.
This precariousness, added to inflation and the constant increase in housing prices, makes it difficult for young people to emancipate in Spain, already more than three years above the EU as a whole. "Despite the economic recovery, the percentage of young people who live with their fathers and/or mothers has increased in recent years. This shows, on the one hand, the precarious and difficult situation faced by the new generations and, on the other , the difficulties for a part of the population, usually the most vulnerable, to be able to develop their life projects and futures as they wish”, pointed out the director of Ayuda en Acción, Fernando Mudarra.
Since the end of the 2008 crisis there has been an improvement in employment, but also an increase in the cost of housing. According to housing trends, at the same time that it has become more expensive, there has been a decrease in the young population that lives in property from 60% since 2006 to 30%, while the population that lives in rent has increased.
However, this trend has not had a positive change on emancipation and "the economic situation warns that the problems will continue during this decade," adds Mudarra. According to the prospective study and the panel of experts, the percentage of the population that lives with their fathers and/or mothers will increase by almost one point in 2030.
How do we turn the tortilla around? Among the improvements to achieve the desirable scenario, Ayuda en Acción highlights: generating policies that help increase the proportion of independent youth, reducing the average age of emancipation, reducing the burden of housing costs on young families, improving the park public housing and a political framework to solve the structural problem in housing.
It is also essential that the cost of housing be affordable, both in its form of purchase and rent, and does not represent more than 30% of the average youth salary, as well as that the quality of youth housing is better.
The study also shows the existing territorial inequality between the autonomous communities. In fact, the differences are up to 20 percentage points with respect to those with less unemployment -Aragón and Cantabria- compared to those with more -Andalusia, the Canary Islands and Extremadura-.
Given that the reduction in the active population and the creation of employment, a reduction in the youth unemployment rate is expected, a trend underlined by the vast majority of the experts consulted, who point to a youth unemployment rate (15-29 years). of around 20% by 2030, a value that would be approximately half that existing at the time of the last economic crisis.
According to the researchers, these trends will continue in the face of 2030. This implies that a regional perspective is necessary, among the recommendations given for improving employment. In fact, Ayuda en Acción takes into account the communities with the highest unemployment in order to change the situation through education and employment programs, in addition to promoting sectoral development policies to accompany the changes underway and take advantage of tomorrow's opportunities.
"Education is a key lever to break the cycle of poverty and access employment, there is a direct relationship between unemployment and impoverishment with the levels of study," says Verónica de la Cruz, Head of Employment at Ayuda en Acción. The truth is that the unemployment rate in 2021 in the population between 25 and 29 years old was 32.6% for a low educational level and 15.7% for a high educational level.
For this reason, the entity is committed to reducing school dropout and accompanying integration into the labor market. "A quality public education is necessary that guarantees access to all social classes, breaking inequality gaps, as well as the deployment of comprehensive programs in Spain, for inclusive learning and promoting employability," concludes Mudarra.
