A country deep in recession since 2008, Spain has been facing major deficiencies in its labor market. Youth unemployment has been a persistent phenomenon that has worsened during the last crisis. According to a report by Spain’s National Statistics Institute, more than double the European Union average of the population is jobless.
In 2012, the national unemployment rate reached 22.85%, the highest rate in nearly 17 years and the current highest in the industrialized world. Spain’s National Statistics Institute reports that the unemployment rate in Spain increased to 25.02% in the third quarter of 2012 from 24.63% in the second quarter of 2012; this explains the rapid deficit in the government control over its labor market. Looking back at the country’s history, we notice that from 1987 until 2012, Spain's unemployment rate averaged 16.6% reaching an all-time high of 25.0% in September of 2012 and a record low of 8.0% in June of 2007. Emphasizing the deep crisis the country is currently living.
As the government undergoes the biggest slash in public spending in recent times, it is to blame for the relatively high unemployment rate. The numerous deficiencies in the government’s policies not only resulted in the increase of the number of the unemployed (5.2 million by the end of 2012) but also the decrease in the number of job seekers which is viewed as one additional undesired effect to add to the already fragile economy.
The population’s work conditions and specifically those of the young people depend harshly on the efficiency of the country's educational system. The transition from the education environment to the work environment is, therefore, strongly conditioned by the employment situation and the job matching equality. The youngsters-those aged between 19 and 25 years old-find themselves facing a decision of whether or not to continue going to school. When it comes to leaving school early, Spain stands out with its high percentage (30.6%) of people aged between 18 and 24 not completing their elementary school and not having any kind of training. That does not only accentuate the hard entry to the work market but also puts the future of the youngsters in jeopardy especially that most companies are becoming highly demanding when it comes to work qualifications and requirements. In other words, the likelihood of a young person getting a stable and well remunerated job depends on the quality and quantity of the education they received.
This tends to have a negative effect on the percentage of young people entering the labor market and, thereby, explains the unbalanced job matching equality. That triggers off the threat of a brain drain and as Ignacio Escolar, author of the country’s most popular political blog and former editor of the newspaper Publico mentioned “This is the least hopeful and best educated generation in Spain, and it's like a national defeat that they have to travel abroad to find work”.
Polarization, education imbalance and the deficient segmentation of the job market play major roles in building up to the ever rising unemployment rate in the country. The last reform the government made to increase the number of trainings offered was mainly focused on university education. This polarization did not only lead to imbalances between the job demand and supply at different education levels but also resulted in high levels of unemployment among graduates.
The limited effectiveness of the active labor market is reflected through the active labor market policies (ALMP), which aim at boosting labor force participation along with reducing structural unemployment. These policies failed at accomplishing the goal as they were only minor attempts to minimize the unemployment rate and ease the transition process to new jobs.
It is for all the reasons stated above that the Spanish government must mobilize its resources towards examining and fighting those issues, in order to avoid a longer recession.
For that purpose, it is necessary that the government reconsiders its policies. A good first step would be to maintain a good educational system. This could be achieved by surveying and supporting the students who are at risk which will reduce the rate of early dropouts. This measure will also improve the quantity and quality of education of the young Spaniards, paving the way for them to successfully enter the job market.
Considering the already weak economy, the government is facing a historical challenge; will it be able to bring the country out of the harsh recession and back on its feet? It seems that both the government’s position and the fate of the young Spaniards depend on it.
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