Not even having a job, the great fear of young people when they finish their studies, is enough to achieve what is supposed to be the great desire of this population group: emancipation and starting an independent life. It is neither now nor will it be in the next seven years. On the contrary: the age of emancipation will continue to be delayed. The fundamental reason is the enormous difficulty that young people have in accessing housing, whether rented or owned.
This is the main conclusion of the prospective study on youth and employment in Spain in 2030 prepared by the oenagé Ayuda en Acción and which was made public yesterday. In addition, it reveals that this scenario will not be the same (negative) in all territories. There are communities, such as Andalusia, the Canary Islands and Extremadura where young people will find it more difficult to become independent, because the level of employment in these areas is lower.
Work is a pillar for emancipation, with employment starting to improve but not improving so much in the youth population, which continues to suffer from a higher temporary rate, more part-time contracts and lower salaries. While temporary employment has decreased by 3.6 points in the population aged 20-64 since 2008, in people aged 16 to 24 it has grown by 9.9 points and in those aged 25 to 34 the increase has been 3 points, points out this work.
This precariousness, added to inflation and the constant increase in the price of housing, makes it difficult for young people to emancipate in Spain, already above the EU as a whole for more than three years (30 years on average in Spain and 26 in the rest of Europe). "Despite the economic recovery, the percentage of young people living with their parents has increased in recent years. This shows, on the one hand, the very 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 future life projects as they wish ”, says the director of Ayuda en Acción, Fernando Mudarra.
And in 2030? The experts who contributed to this report believe that the youth unemployment rate (16-29 years old) could reach 20%, a value that would be approximately half of what it was at the time of the last crisis economic Despite this, studies indicate that the percentage of young people living with their parents will increase.
The key lies in generating policies that help to increase the proportion of independent youth, lower the average age of emancipation, reduce the burden of the cost of housing on young families, improve the public housing stock and have of a political framework to solve the structural problem in terms of housing, they point out from Ayuda en Acción.
And, of course, it is necessary to continue working to reduce the dropout rate (it is expected that by 2030 Spain will achieve values similar to those of the EU) and increase the level of education of young people. "Education is a key lever to break the cycle of poverty and gain access to employment. There is a direct relationship between unemployment and impoverishment with levels of study", says Verónica de la Cruz, head of employment at Ayuda en Acción. A fact: the unemployment rate in 2021 in the population aged 25 to 29 was 32.6% for the low level of education and 15.7% for the high level of education.
