A new report on employment and job security showed that young Spaniards emancipated increasingly at older ages over the last few years. Despite the fact that the vast majority of the young population is educated or in the workforce, the emancipation age is among the highest of all EU countries.
The Spanish Laborer’s Commission (CCOO), a Spanish labor union, released a report judging the social position of young people in the country. The report seeks to determine if the Spanish government is “keeping its promise to Spanish youths to be able to emancipate securely” by the age of 30.
The CCOO said that the average age of emancipation is at 30,3 years of age in Spain, while the European Union figure was at 26.4 years in 2022. However, the report finds that 55% of youths reach emancipation capacity with a “full package” in Spain, including a stable long-term contract with a salary enough to maintain a family, at 38 years of age.
The CCOO is the labor union in Spain with the largest pool of affiliated members and elected delegates in the country. They were in the news recently when they organized a worker’s strike against Amazon as Black Friday sales loomed in Spain.
Emancipation rates in Spain have been lowering consistently since 2009, according to the according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE). In 2020, 55% of youths aged 25–29 lived with their parents.
Despite this, 95% of young people are either in the workforce, pursuing higher education or higher education graduates, a rate which has increased by 2.8 percentage points since 2018. By contrast, in 2022, 11.7 % of 15–29-year-olds in the EU were neither in employment nor in education and training, as per Eurostat (which is unduly increased because it includes university graduates who are not working).
Abandonment of education before university has also decreased in Spain, going from 30% in 2009 to 14% in 2022, as per the INE.
Young people in Spain take until at least 24 years old to sign and maintain a long-term contract on average, the report shows. Though dependence on temporary contracts for young people has decreased significantly since 2019, only 36.1% of youths aged from 20 to 24 have a long-term, full-time contract. The rest depend on part-time or temporary contracts.
The report showed that many youths, particularly women, depend on part-time work. Forty-four percent of female workers from ages 20–24 depend on part-time contracts (30% for men). When reaching the age group of ages 25–29, this drops to 23% (11% for men). The report showed that over a third of Spanish young workers (ages 25–34) are “overqualified” in their jobs, meaning their studies and training levels exceed that of their current job.
While salary and employment factors are part of the equation, access to housing also plays a role.
“The problems of the youth [in Spain] increasingly have less to do with employment issues and more with general life issues, very linked with the impossibility of guaranteeing rights to a dignified and affordable home,” the report says.
While the report praises a national housing law passed in May 2023, that “sought to provide a dignified and adequate home for those with difficulties,” it says its effect has been limited by the fact that the main right-wing party in Spain, Partido Popular (PP), is in control of most of the regional governments of Spain since late this year. The PP is against the law and is seeking to reform it.
The report suggests “ambitious measures” to help remedy the increasing emancipation age. It proposes the use of credits from the European Union to create public housing programs.
“In the absence of ambitious measures of this type, difficulties for young people to emancipate will continue to increase,” the report says.
Secretary General of the CCOO, Unai Sordo, addressed the current President of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, in the corresponding press conference. He demanded that the president show “valor” by putting a limit on the rising rent prices.
“The housing law will not be enough, there will be a regional boycott,” against buying real estate Sordo said.
